Words
by Iffy Jr
Summary: Tony/Loki. "7 days. It was all going just fine before Thor and his younger brother dropped by the Avengers Mansion for a little week-long visit. Loki hardly slept, didn't eat, didn't talk. And of course, Tony is fascinated with all of the ways the God of Mischief actually communicates. It isn't the way he speaks to them or the words he uses, no. It's simply HOW." COMPLETE.
1. Day 1

A/N's: This is the second Avengers story I've written. According to Word its 83 pages altogether, 44,819 words. It's in Tony's perspective and set post-alien attack/war/whatever you want to call it (I call it the war in the fic, so you know), and Loki's a total wimp at first, but never fear! He gets better later :) Oh, also, also, it's a story in which it's assumed that Tony and Pepper never got together. There was just a smidge of feelings there, but they never actually acted on them. Yeah.

But in any case! On with the fic! Enjoy :)

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**Disclaimer**: None of the characters in this story are mine. They strictly belong to Marvel and whoever else has helped create the Avengers or the characters of Asgard.

**Full**** Summary**: 7 days. That's how long it takes for Tony's entire world to change. It was all going just fine before Thor and his younger brother dropped by the Avengers Mansion for a little weeklong visit. Steve wakes him up too early every morning, he spends too much time in the basement workshop, Pepper is keeping his business booming, and Thor was his absolute biggest fan. Then came along a tired, broken little God of Mischief who had a knack for putting Tony's things together with a wave of his hand with nothing but a single look at his blueprints. And of course, there was the fascination Tony had with the way he communicated. It wasn't the way he spoke them or the words he used, no. It was simply _how_.

**Pairing**: (Main) Tony/Loki, (Minor) Clint/Natasha  
**Status**: Complete  
**Rating**: M  
**Warning**: slash, m/m pairing, smut, strong language

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**Day 1**

Beginning chapter A/N's: So I bring up this fetish in just a few paragraphs, and I'd just like to say that it's an actual fetish. What a great way to star a fic, yeah? :P

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"Tony, you blob, would you please just get _up_?" Steve chides, pushing on Tony's back.

"Nooo," Tony groans, pulling his pillow over his head. "I want to _sleep_."

"You have to be up when he gets here, though!"

"Steve," Tony growls, pushing himself up onto his elbows to glare at the larger man. "I don't care _if_ he's a god; he's not going to give a _damn_ if I show up late. Can't you just let me _sleep_?"

"No. Get up, get in the shower, and get dressed."

Tony keeps glaring at him. If Pepper can't even get him anywhere on time, he'll be damned if he lets Captain fucking America do it.

Two minutes later, Steve is literally dumping Tony into the shower with his pajamas still on.

**XxX**

"Ah, Tony, there you are!" Clint says, patting him on the back. "Natasha sent me a message that Thor's been asking for you all afternoon. I haven't been in there yet either, so she told me to bring you with me."

Tony smiles, because he knows very well that Clint thinks he and Steve have had a thing for months. And they definitely don't. Just best friends. Cap is too hung up on his old girl for any of that, and Tony's been on his own for ages now. He's not really sure why…maybe he's slowly falling in love with Jarvis or something. He's got a bad case of ASFR. Yeah, that's it; he'll go tell Steve he has Alt Sex Fetish Robot. _That_ will be a reaction to remember.

"Well, take me to him then," Tony says, digging through the kitchen fridge for his bottle of scotch (most people keep it warm and add ice, but Tony just keeps it cold right away). Clint automatically grabs him a glass, and Tony pours it completely full so he won't have to come back for a longer time. He may love the big Norse god to death, but that doesn't mean he doesn't need a good drink to make it go even better.

Tony gets along with Clint best, actually. While Steve is his best friend, they also argue the most (another reason Clint thinks they're together: they act like an old married couple). And he absolute adores Bruce as well, but sometimes he comes out smarter, and Tony doesn't like being shown up. Clint, on the other hand, has only ever had one spat with. There was this one time that they were trying to pick a movie to watch, but Clint finally just gave up and went up to one of the nests he has in the corner of every single room of the Avengers Mansion (except of course personal bedrooms and the like). It's always made Tony laugh. Just because he's called Hawkeye doesn't mean he has to sleep in high places, does it? What a nutter. That's another reason Tony likes the guy. He likes nutters.)

Clint takes a sip of the glass first because he doesn't like sharing anything with anybody but Natasha. Their relationship may be the best kept secret in the entire Avengers league, but that doesn't mean the others don't know about it. It's just the outside world that doesn't know, though as far as either of the two master assassins know it's still just between them. It's funny, really, seeing as though Natasha kills everybody she sleeps with. Tony hopes he can get front row seating to the fight that eventually breaks out between them when they break up—which they won't, so there's probably never going to be a fight at all. How boring.

When Tony and Clint walk into the best living room of the mansion, Tony nearly drops his drink as he tries to hold Clint back. Thankfully Steve is right there, and he manages to push the guy into the wall so Tony can set his drink down and dry off his hand. (Maybe he _shouldn't_ have filled it all the way up.) Because, across the room, sitting so close to Thor that it may be considered scandalous, is Loki.

"Stark!" the great blonde beast exclaims, smiling broadly. "I have been anticipating your arrival for long! It is so good to see you! How have you been?"

"Oh fine, just fine," Tony replies, doing his best not to glare at the Liesmith so his brother doesn't get angry. "How about you, point break?"

"I have been doing quite well, thank you! Many a night I have dreamt of meeting all of you here again. I am so glad I accepted the invitation to be your guest."

Tony leans over towards Steve, and the wonder-boy knows him well enough that he leans over and down so that Tony's mouth is by his ear. "Why is the god of pains in the ass here? And with_out_ his gag?"

"Ask him," Steve whispers back. "He hasn't even parted his lips to breathe, let alone speak. And Thor refused to tell anyone anything until we were all here. You were supposed to be _on time_, Tony."

Tony smirks up at him before leaning away. "Hey, big guy, I have a question."

"Ask away, my friend," Thor says cheerfully.

Clint takes over, and Tony lets him because he knows he can't help it. "_Why_," he growls, "is your _brother_ with you?"

Thor presses his lips into a hard line and looks down at Loki. The Liesmith squeezes his eyes shut tight and gives a slight shake "no" of his head.

"But you must, brother," the blonde says quietly, yet sternly.

Loki opens his eyes—pleading eyes—and shakes his head again.

"If you do not, then I will be forced to do it for you."

Loki leans down to hide his face behind his brothers shoulder. If Tony didn't hate the man so much he might actually think it cute. While Thor in the loveseat is sitting out like a god that deserves to be revered, Loki looks like a child. His knees are pulled up to his chest with one arm wrapped around them and the other bent out so that his hand can grip tightly to his older brothers huge bicep with long, bony fingers. In fact, his entire _being_ is bony. He looks like he hasn't eaten in months, not to mention the violet circles under his eyes. Of course Tony can't see the circles now because he's hiding behind Thor, but he noticed them earlier.

Thor gives a dignified, godly sigh. "My brother both refuses to give any indication to his having vocal cords _or_ to leaving my side. Both of these habits began since we removed the muzzle in Asgard, which we did remove for the fact that everyone in our realm has forgiven him. It has been one year, after all, and we are not ones to hold grudges. I brought him because he refused to be left behind, and let me tell you, a silent tantrum is certainly something to behold."

Loki buries himself deeper behind Thor as he laughs heartily at him, and everybody else just stays stone silent—except Tony. He snorts, just shrugging at the appalled looks that both Steve and Clint give him. Tony never was one to deny something to himself—especially not a good laugh.

"In any case," Thor continues, "my brother is all but harmless, I assure you. Even if he is not by my side, which is a rare sight to see, the worst he will do to you is glare. He does not speak, hardly sleeps, and he refuses to eat. I apologize if he is of any burden to you."

Even Natasha snorts at that one. What is Loki, Thor's child? His pet? What a low stop for the God of Mischief. That's the problem, though… He's the Liesmith, right? Maybe he's making all of it up. Thor will be here the entirety of the week, and with Loki with him, nobody (especially not Clint or Fury, wherever he is; only the actual members of the Avengers are in the room at the present moment) will sleep soundly until they see some real proof that Loki has thrown away all his past aura of danger. Seems like he has, though. Either that or he's a really good actor with no fear of looking pathetic.

"We see," Natasha says, nodding. "Will he be staying in the same room as you?"

"Yes, naturally," Thor says, putting an arm around his brother. "His room in Asgard has been untouched for months. I do not think he would suddenly like his own room now."

And so the preparations are made. Thor and Loki's bedroom is made up by Bruce (who Tony hasn't heard a _word_ from so far) and Steve, and Natasha and Clint go to contact Fury about the whole ordeal—who doesn't flip his shit near as much as Tony assumed he would.

The next moment that all of the Avengers but Thor are around, Natasha brings up a "brief" order that Tony all but tunes out: "If _he_ doesn't talk to _you_," she says, referring to Loki, "then you try not to acknowledge him at all. I'm sure he has some sort of way to communicate, though, whether it's penciling things down on a piece of paper or simply waving his arms around. Whatever it is, you can answer that to see if you can get any information out of him. I know I'm not the only one here who isn't sure if this is just an intricate trick or not. Nobody leave their doors unlocked, even though he can just teleport into random rooms at his pleasure. Who knows, he may knock before popping up at the foot of your bed to ask if you can direct him to the bathroom before he slits your throat." She purses her lips, turning to Clint. "Gods still pee, don't they?"

Clint shrugs.

"Yeah, they do," Bruce says. "Thor and I talked a lot after I tried crushing him before the real part of the war began."

Everyone is awkwardly silent for a few moments, so Steve breaks it: "Natasha, should we maybe have patrols out every night, just one of us walking around? We already have somebody going around the city during the night; we may as well have someone around the inside of the mansion as well. Nobody likes sleeping but Banner anyway."

Bruce looks over at Steve before glancing at Tony, who winks at him. Tony knows very well that Bruce only sleeps whenever he can so that he doesn't have to think about keeping the Hulk at bay.

Bruce smiles back before playfully elbowing Steve, who elbows him the same way back.

Natasha nods. "Yeah, Cap, sounds good. Hawk's got outside tonight, so I'll take the inside. Makes sense, the two master assassins sharing the night."

"Yes," Tony says, mostly to himself. "It does."

But everybody else hears it too, and they all snicker. And then they disperse before the assassins can figure out what they're really laughing about and knock them all upside the head.

Tony goes straight to the mansion basement where they've done their best to build an exact replica of his home lab. They almost got it all down, but Tony sill goes back to his own place some days to both have the _real_ lab and to get away from everybody else. Pepper still lives there, though (mostly, anyway; she's been at the tower lately), so he can't get away from her. Thankfully he never wants to; he loves her to death. He would have died _years_ ago without her.

Down in his lab, Tony is in the middle of a project that's supposed to be able to scan the whole city in one go for any dangerous activity instead of having a whole bunch of little ones everywhere, and it's meant to be six times as strong. Of course, the smaller ones will be programmed to come back on if the larger one goes out. It's not much of an _important_ project, but seeing as though he has nothing better to do lately, he just keeps pushin' through it in hopes something more important pops into his head.

He stays down there until about three in the morning, two full glasses of scotch in his stomach, before forcing himself to go up to bed. Jarvis got to see all of his memories when he tried out the suit scanner (he can only do that when he's in the suit; any other time he only knows spoken words), and Tony never knew he programmed the damn thing to laugh.

"Sir, sir," Jarvis had said, laughing almost humanlike, "I'm crying, sir, please, stop."

"It was just a thought, Jarvis," Tony had growled. "Just a joke. Let it go."

But the damn robot kept laughing anyway. Tony should know better than to think about falling in love with an AI.

"Jarvis," Tony says now, flopping into bed, "What's the date again?"

"It's Wednesday, June twenty-seventh, sir."

"What's the night patrol order for the next six days? Just the days that the gods will be here."

"Mr. Rogers is tomorrow, followed by Ms. Romanov, then Mr. Barton twice in a row, Mr. Rogers a second time, and then Master Thor has requested the last night here. Those are for the next six days after tonight, sir."

Tony frowns, turning over in his bed. "I'm not on there a single time?"

"Mr. Rogers' doing, most likely."

"I'm going to kill him. Give me Clint's first night, and make a list for the inside patrols that give me three of those nights. I'd rather be inside anyway, and Clint would rather be out less so he can 'share the night' with Natasha." He chuckles to himself once before going completely straight-faced. "Aright, I'm not funny. Give me tomorrow night, and then whatever two days you want after that to fit in my next requests."

"Mr. Rogers is going to protest, sir."

"Don't care, do it. Give Cap the first night after me, Natasha the night Clint is out, and put Thor in wherever. I feel like givin' our point break a night as well, and Clint'll be bored as hell inside anyway."

"Do you mind if I make some suggestions, sir?"

"Sure, lay it out."

"Excluding tonight, I believe it should be you, Master Thor, Mr. Rogers, you, and finally Mr. Barton."

"Jarvis, you've only put me in there twice."

"I am aware, sir."

Tony sighs. "Don't tell me you're working against me with the Captain, Jay. Fine. We'll do yours. Lights. Goodnight."

Jarvis chuckles, turning the lights out. "Goodnight, sir."


	2. Day 2

**Day 2**

Tony wakes up to Steve pulling open his curtains, flooding the room with light.

"If it's not noon yet," he growls, "Jarvis is going to throw you out of the window."

"Your biggest fan needs you," Steve says, reaching to grab Tony's hand and pull him up. "He has a question about Jarvis, and I know that I can't answer anything about your AU."

Tony groans, forcing himself out of bed. "Next time he visits I'm going to my _own_ place. And it's AI, Steve. Artificial Intelligence, not Artificial Underwear."

Steve forces him into the shower again, and then accompanies him down to the room of brothers.

"Mornin', point break," Tony says, pushing the door open. "You too, god of silence and child-like brooding."

"Good morning, Stark!" Thor says brightly. The blonde is sitting at a desk, and Loki is still in the bed. There's only one bed.

"What, you even _sleep_ with him?" Tony asks.

"Of course," Thor says, standing up. Is he _ever_ out of his armor? "If my brother does not want to sleep alone, then he will not." He pats Loki's shoulder, but Loki doesn't move. He just keeps staring at Tony and Steve.

"Right, anyway," Tony says, looking at his arc reactor through his shirt. He really needs to get a covering for it. "What about my robot?"

"Yes! Why did you name it _Jarvis_? Does it _stand_ for something?"

"Yes, of course," Tony lies. "Junior Architect Running Vertically Into Stark. It's a past experience of mine."

Steve snorts, and Loki slowly pushes himself up with the tiniest of eye rolls (obviously Tony isn't getting past the master). Thor, on the other hand, is mesmerized.

"Yes, of course! A previous experience! I should have thought of that. I'm sure _you_ did, brother. Silent as you are, you always know what is going on."

"Speaking of which," Steve says, "how _does_ he communicate, if he doesn't speak out loud?"

Thor looks over at his brother. "Would you like to show them, brother?" he asks. "Or shall I simply tell them?"

Loki looks down at the bed, sighing through his nose.

"You know I only treat you like a child because you _act_ like one. Will you or will you not tell them? You only have to nod if you want me to do it, and I will not back down until you give me some form of answer. You know I'll wait, too. I was an hour late to council because of you."

Loki looks up, glaring at his brother. And he shakes his head no that "no I don't want you to tell them I can do it myself". His entire body shimmers for a moment before he disappears, and Tony and Steve both are looking around in a panic for all but a second before Loki appears beside the bed, dressed unlike Tony has ever seen him before: a thin black long sleeve and thin, tight black pants, along with tight black suede-like boots that go all the way up to his knees and hold together down the front with thin black laces. What is up with this guy and black? Tony thought he was into the whole green and leather thing, but now he's not wearing any leather at all. His eyes are still green, though.

But Tony doesn't think about it for long, because he can't help but be drawn to how _thin_ the Liesmith is again. Was he always this thin and just didn't look it because of his armor, or did he just stop eating after his capture? Thor did say that he doesn't eat…

Loki doesn't give him enough time to think about it. He snaps the fingers of one hand, and the index finger suddenly lights up like the end of a cigarette, burning lightly a bright orange, black singes around it. He drags his finger vertically through the air once, and words appear there in a way that makes it look like burning coals floating in the air.

_DOES IT REALLY MEAN ANYTHING?_ it says.

Tony actually smiles at Loki. So far he seems okay (not that he's had much to go on). "Yeah, it does. Just A Really Very Intelligent System. Sometimes my creativity bulb pops out."

The words disappear with a wave of Loki's hand, and the Liesmith crosses frail arms over a frail chest without so much of a smile.

"You really don't eat _any_thing?" Tony suddenly asks him. It's out before he can stop himself, but then he laughs internally because he wouldn't have stopped himself anyway.

Loki ducks his head. Lordy, how shy he's become. Before he could give speeches about kneeling to an entire crowd, and now he can't even speak out loud to Thor?

"I'll take that as a no," he says, crossing his own arms. "You don't look like you do. Didn't peg you as the self-harming type. You know, my tower is a great place for jumping. If you ever need a ride I could—"

"Tony!" Steve snaps.

"Well, I guess it's time I head out," Tony says quickly, because Thor looks even angrier than Steve. "Jarvis, darling, do me a favor and tell these boys the new schedules. Oh, and send it to the others as well."

"When am I _not_ doing favors for you, dear?"

Tony groans. "One joke—_one_ joke—and my robot has turned into a sassy teenager. Just do it, Jay."

"Of course, sir."

Tony makes his way down to the lab, hoping Steve won't catch up to him about the schedule, but no such luck.

"And who said _you_ could take over Natasha's scheduling job?"

"Nobody did, obviously." Tony presses the B button in the elevator, for Basement.

"Tony, you _know_ you're not allowed to—"

"Steve, you _know_ I've tuned out rules since the dawn of time. I do want I want, when I want to, and the way I want it done. So don't go telling me that I'm not allowed to do something, because I probably didn't even listen to the rule when it was first being made, and I'm not going to listen _now_."

Steve stares down at him in the elevator, and for a moment Tony _actually_ thinks that he's going to shut up. But then he bursts into all sorts of things about Tony's hearing and mindset and blah, blah, blah. Tony just tunes the whole thing out. And Steve knows it, too, but he keeps going until he's finished.

"Alright then," he says, putting his hands on his hips as Tony starts up on his not-so-important project. "I knew you wouldn't listen so I decided to just let it all out. I feel much better now. Do you need help with anything?"

Tony smirks. "Mind getting me a glass of scotch from the fridge in the corner?"

Steve eyes him oddly as he goes to the fridge. "Who keeps hard liquor in the fridge?"

"How do you even _know_ about alcohol?"

"Because I hang around _you_ too often." He opens up the fridge, looking through the sparse contents. "How about I get something that's actually _good_ for you? You've got some strawberries in here I can cover with sugar and this expired whipping cream. That's what the white stuff is called, right?"

Tony smiles brightly at him. Whipping cream came out in the seventies, after all. Way out of Steve's league. "Yeah, that's right, good job. But you can only do that if you get me some scotch as well."

Steve rolls his eyes, doing as Tony says. He comes over with two glasses, though, and Tony gives him a weird look.

"You? Drinking scotch? Drinking _anything_?"

"Oh, come on," Steve says, taking a sip of one. "You know I drink sometimes. I might as well, seeing as though I can't get drunk."

Tony smirks. "Hardly. Will you rip this apart for me?" he asks, holding the foot of his Iron Man suit out. "I need to get to the boosters and I've decided to just take it apart since I need to make a new one anyway."

Tony and Steve set to work redoing the boosters on the foot of the suit, making a new one completely so Tony can have it if the scanners pick anything up. Well…Tony works on it. Steve just hands him stuff.

They spend the next four hours down there together, eating things that Steve throws together (he's such a house-husband) and Tony attempting to explain the Iron Man suit more intently. Bruce comes down for the second hour, but he goes back up forty-five minutes later because Natasha calls him up.

And at the end of the fours hours, Clint comes down wondering if either Tony or Steve wants to watch a movie.

"Which one?" Tony asks, both he and Steve pushing their goggles up.

"Natasha wants Angelina Jolie's SALT, and she always gets what she wants, so SALT."

"Who else is watching?" Steve asks.

"Everyone but Loki, who Thor said was just going to be sleeping. You should have seen how excited the beast was to 'become acquainted with mortal technology'."

"Doesn't Fury hate it when we all hull ourselves up in the theater?" Tony asks.

Steve smiles at him. "You paid attention. I'm impressed."

Tony smirks at him. "I'll stay down here," he says, looking back over at Clint. "Steve'll go, though. I'm nearly done with my city scanners, and when I'm done I want to try it out up on my tower. Oh, and tell Bruce he's welcome down here if the movie ticks him off at all."

Clint nods. "Yeah, I'll be sure to, but he probably won't since he's already seen it a few times. Page us if anything comes up."

"Will do. Oh, and Steve, tell my biggest fan I say hi."

"Sure thing," Steve says, waving goodbye.

And the super soldier follows the master assassin out of the room.

Tony takes a deep breath, taking in the solitude of the lab. Now he can _really_ do some work.

**XxX**

He's done with the scanner—hell, he even tests it—about an hour and a half later. It works perfectly, so he flies back from his tower to gather up the things he needs to set it up more permanently.

He whistles as he packs his special backpack (special as in with reinforced stitching so it won't rip open as easy as normal backpacks) with the tools and other materials he'll need, wishing Steve would listen to something _other_ than Bing Crosby sometimes so he wouldn't always have "Swinging on a Star" stuck in his head. Maybe he'll introduce him to the Beatles. They were at least _born_ in the forties, right? Maybe he'll just—

He stops, staring at the door that leads out of the room and to the elevator.

There, in the doorway, in the same outfit as this morning and holding tightly to the door frame, is none other than the God of Mischief looking particularly shy.

"What are you doing down here?" Tony asks stiffly.

Loki performs the same spell as earlier: _THOR LEFT ME WITHOUT TELLING ME WHERE HE WAS GOING BECAUSE I WAS ASLEEP._

"That's not what I asked."

He flicks a finger and the letters rearrange themselves: _I NEED TO BE WITH MY BROTHER. CAN YOU TELL ME WHERE HE IS?_

Tony snorts, picking up his pager. "Hey, Widow, you read? It's I-Man."

"Yeah, I read," her voice says back through the pager. "What is it? Trouble in the underworld?"

Tony rolls his eyes at the nickname of the basement. "Nah, just makin' sure you're all okay. Point break's dog just dropped in wondering where his master was, so I was just checkin' in to make sure it wasn't just a trick."

There's silence for a moment, and then Thor's voice is on over the pager: "Yes, yes, I am _aware_ where the button is. Let a god do his work. Brother? Brother, are you there? I was under the impression that you would be sleeping the entire time! It being the first you've truly slept in weeks I presumed that you would be out for many hours. You woke earlier than I anticipated."

While Thor spoke, Loki's eyes widened considerably and he all but flew across the room to where Tony was with the pager. He snatches the pager out of Tony's hands, fumbling around with the buttons. But then he just stares at it.

"Are you there, brother?" Thor asks again.

Loki looks up at Tony with scared, pleading eyes, and Tony gets the hint. He takes the pager from the other man, holding it to his mouth.

"Yeah, point break, he's right beside me. Only sound can travel through these things; you know your dog doesn't bark."

Loki ducks his head, and Thor growls on the other end. "He is not a _dog_, Tony Stark. He is not a pet at all, but my _brother_. I do not wish for you to speak about him in such a way. All things aside, he is more like a cat. You must be more creative if you wish for your insult to penetrate deeper."

Loki taps Tony lightly on the shoulder, and Tony looks up to see a new message in the air.

"Hey, point break?"

When Thor's voice comes in, there's laughter in the background. "Yes, Stark?"

"Your _cat_ is wondering where you are. He's nearly having a heart attack without you by his side."

Thor sighs. "Tell my brother that I will not tell him where I am."

Loki practically faints right there.

"Why not?" Tony asks.

"Because he must learn to be on his own."

Loki wraps his arms around his stomach and Tony purses his lips. "Yeah, I'm not sure if that's a good idea, big guy. Loki here looks like he's going to have another of those silent fits in a minute."

"Brother, brother, listen. You must endure this, or else you will never learn. I cannot allow you to follow me everywhere as you do. Father and the council are for my ears alone when it comes to certain things, yet you hear it all anyway. Spend the rest of the day with Stark."

Loki pales as Tony sputters, "Uh, uh, Thor, no. No, I don't think that's such a good idea. I don't like cats! I'm allergic! You can't possible expect me to—"

"I-Man, its Widow," Natasha says, her voice taking over Tony's. That's the problem with using pagers instead of Walkie Talkies; people can talk over you. "Suck it up," Natasha says, "and get over your damn allergies. Am I clear, woos?"

Tony glares down at the device. "Let me talk to Clint."

A moment later, said Hawkeye comes on: "What do you want?"

"Your girlfriend is a bitch, but I'll do it." And he turns the pager off completely.

He sighs and pushes his fingers through his hair before turning to Loki. There are new words where the old ones once hung: _YOU SHOULD HAVE KEPT ARGUING._

Tony rolls his eyes. "Hey, I don't want you with me either. But we're going to have to get the hell over it, okay? Because you're not allowed around here by yourself. Now, put yourself to use and teleport us over to my tower. You know, that place you threw me out of the window from? Either that or _I'll_ be _flying_ us there. I don't take you as the type of person who's afraid of heights, but I decided to stop assuming things with you as soon as I figured out you don't eat."

Loki blinks at him for about a second before he reaches up to his mouth with his thumb and begins to chew on his nail.

Tony arches an eyebrow at him. "Really? That's all you have to say? I order you to do something and you chew on your nail like a fourth grade girl? Come on, show some backbone! Be the damn God of Mischief everyone knows is still in there somewhere." He jabs hard in the middle of Loki's chest.

But Loki just switches the nail he's chewing out for the other thumb.

Tony rolls his eyes, swinging his backpack around his shoulder. "Fine, be that way. Just take us to my tower." Not happily, Tony wraps an arm around Loki's shoulder. "Hold on tight to me so you don't drop me in whatever space-time-universe you use to travel in."

Cringing slightly, Loki wraps his arm around Tony's waist. There's a slight squeezing sensation and everything goes black, and suddenly it's bright again and the two men are in the penthouse of Stark Tower.

"Wow," Tony says, stepping away from Loki (he never realized how tall the guy is; way taller than his own height). "What a convenient way to travel. I would ask if you wanted to try and help me put this whole thing together, but seeing as though it would actually require you talking _back_ to me, that's sort of pointless. Also due to the fact that you're the God of Mischief. I'm not that stupid. Why don't you go pour us a couple of drinks or something? Scotch is in the fridge. I know most people don't like it cold, but hey, I'm Iron Man. I do what I want."

Loki's eyes widen slightly, and he turns his finger cigarette on before waving his hand through the air. _YOU DO WHAT YOU WANT?_, it says

Tony gives him a slightly confused look. "Did I stutter?"

Loki shakes his head, waving the words away. Without another sentence of coals he goes over to the fridge, so Tony shrugs and presses a button on his suit that turns it into a briefcase at his feet before he gets to work on setting up the city scanner. He's never gotten the hang of working in close contact while in his suit; it's too bulky for that.

Loki comes over a couple of times to let him take a swig from the glass he poured, and Tony is surprised both that he drank without thought and then that he didn't die from poison intake. He glances over at the Liesmith every once in a while, and every single time Loki is either staring intently back or twisting his fingers into his bangs.

"Don't forget the sixth turn, sir," Jarvis says as Tony screws in a bolt.

Tony ignores the robot and turns to look at Loki instead. "You're really weird, you know that?" he asks.

Loki looks up at him, giving him one of those intense stares before going through the necessary spells to put an answer into the air: _SAYS THE MAN WHO CALLS HIS ROBOT "DEAR"._

Tony smirks, looking back down at the scanner. "Funny, I didn't think you actually had a sense of humor."

Loki nods, standing up to bring Tony's glass over to him again. _IT'S A RARE HAPPENSTANCE_, the new words say. _DON'T TELL THOR._

"Tell point break you're not as impossible as you seem? Wouldn't dream of it. And, speaking of your being impossible, is there a specific _reason_ that you don't talk? I mean, it's kind of tedious, don't you think?"

Loki just ducks his head and takes the glass from Tony, walking slowly back to the counter.

"Oh, come on," Tony says, rolling his eyes as he continues to work on the scanner without looking. "I won't tell anybody, not even Bruce while I'm rambling during work! Okay, well, I might tell Steve…but _he_ won't tell anybody. So maybe I'll—ow, fuck!"

Loki is at Tony's side in a blink, looking down at him from his side.

"No, I'm fine," Tony says, shaking his hand once before sucking on his pulsing thumb. "I was distracted by talking to you and I dropped a tool."

Words appear beside his face: _I KNOW WHAT A WRENCH IS._ And then he takes Tony's hand, a soft green glow enveloping his hand and slowly taking over Tony's as well. And a moment later, the pain is gone.

"Hmm," Tony says, pulling his hand away to look at it. "And to think these powers were against us. I'm not sure if I should thank you or just crack some more jokes."

Loki holds up two fingers to show that he would rather the latter.

"Damn, I should cart you along more often," Tony says. "It's a good thing you don't sleep, because I pretty much don't either. Except…"

Loki nods, the words changing: _I WOULDN'T TRUST ME EITHER. I THREW YOU OUT OF A WINDOW, AFTER ALL._

Tony chuckles. "You got that right. But, hey, I have an idea. You use your magic to put this thing together with a snap of your fingers, and I leave the little scanners up too until I know that you did it right. That way we can get back to the mansion faster and you can shadow your precious brother some more. Sound good?"

Loki presses his lips into a hard line. _I CAN TRY_, his words say. _YOU HAVE TO SHOW ME THE BLUEPRINTS._

Tony pushes the blueprints over to Loki, who scans over them quickly before his hands are engulfed in the darkest green Tony has ever seen. And then he tries to put the scanner together, and Tony's pretty sure it comes out perfectly.

"Great!" Tony says, jumping up into a standing position. "That went great. Right, I'm gonna grab a couple of things, and then you can pop us back into the basement, yeah?"

Loki nods, standing up as well. Lordy, Tony just can't get over how _tall_ this guy is.

He finishes his glass of scotch before taking all of his tools and putting them back into his backpack and grabbing a couple things he's needed at the Avengers Mansion lately.

"Right, ready," he says.

Words appear before him: _YOUR SUIT?_

"No, I'm not going to wear it. I don't really care if you drop me right now. Besides, it's way too much work. Though, Jarvis, program it to go home, if you will."

"Of course, sir."

The briefcase floats up with the use of boosters, and flies out of the window, smashing the glass.

"_Jarvis_!"

"Oops."

Tony rolls his eyes. "Good lord, for the smartest thing I've ever created, you…well, anyway. Just call somebody to come fix it." He turns to Loki. "Okay, _now_ I'm ready."

Loki wraps an arm around Tony's waist, and genius billionaire notices that the Liesmith is shaking slightly. Was he before? Tony wouldn't have been able to feel it through the suit so he doesn't know, and he's not about to ask.

They pop into the basement, safe and sound, right beside Tony's tool table.

"Been in here once and you already know where to put me," Tony says with a smile, stepping away to pull his backpack off. Damn, it sure is cold in here. "I'll definitely be using you all week."

And to top it all off, Loki helps him put the tools away. Granted, he's extremely slow and won't stop worrying a hole into his bottom lip with his teeth, but who knows what that means. It's probably just the new Loki.

"Well, they're all done by now. Thor and the others, I mean. They were just watching a movie."

Loki nods, fiddling with his fingers as he turns and walks swiftly towards the elevators.

Tony turns and gets to cleaning everything else up, whistling Glen Miller (another popular forties artist) as he—

Someone knocks behind him, and he spins to see Loki again in the doorway, words floating by the wall: _CAN I COME BACK TONIGHT, WHEN THOR IS ASLEEP?_

Tony arches an eyebrow. "I don't really have anything to _do_ tonight… I don't have any other projects lined up."

Loki looks genuinely disappointed as he nods and turns to go again.

"Well, wait."

Loki stops, barely turning.

"By the time Thor goes to sleep I'll probably have something to do. And, if I don't, there's always whatever input _you_ have."

Loki licks his lips and nods again, words by the wall changing once more before disappearing entirely: _THANK YOU._

"Yeah, anytime," Tony says. "Steve isn't helpful apart for company and Bruce sleeps more often than not, so you can come down whenever. I don't see why you can't just stay right now, though. What's Thor going to do, question you to death?"

Loki doesn't answer. Just steps into the elevator and rises away.

Tony gives a huge sigh and leans up against his tool desk as he realizes what he's just done.

"What am I doing, Jarvis?" he wonders out loud.

"If I may be so bold, sir," Jarvis says politely, "Laufeyson was not the only one shaking as you teleported back here. I may only be able to read your mind when you are in the suit, but I may as well be able when you are not in it as well. You did, after all, program me to read your emotions by reading your heart beat, blood pressure, and breathing pattern."

"You've _got_ to be kidding me," Tony groans, pressing the palms of his hands against his eyes. "He personally tried to _kill_ me."

"People do tend to love what kills them, sir."

"Okay, okay, shut up, I get it. But I don't like the guy, okay? I've never really liked anyone before. I was probably just shaking because I was so scared that he really was going to drop me."

"Of course, sir."

"Fuck you, Jarvis. Fuck you."

"You didn't program me to feel hurt, sir."

"That's it!" Tony exclaims, leaping away from the desk. "Feelings! I'll give you feelings! Other than humor, and ones that you can turn off as you please or whenever you need to. I won't give you fear, of course. And love would be a bad idea as well. Just the basic happy, sad, and angry."

"I really don't think that's particularly wise, sir. It could malfunction and turn us both into a mess if something…overheats."

"Jarvis, how many things have I created that have overheated?"

"Seven, sir."

Tony frowns. "Right, well, I'm making you a mute action as well."

Jarvis actually has the audacity to laugh before completely changing the subject: "Remember, sir, it's your night for inside patrol, as you requested."

"Loki will be down here anyway. What's the point of looking around the mansion for what's with you?"

"Nevertheless, I'll be sure to keep a close eye on the surveillance footage."

"Yeah, smartass, I'll definitely be making that mute action first."

**XxX**

A couple of hours later, it's time for Tony's shift. He actually planned on walking around the mansion for the patrolling job, but now that Loki will be with him and Jarvis will be watching the scanners and surveillance, he can just keep working like he wants to. Especially with the new project ideas. They may not be the best ideas ever, but he has nothing better to do, and worst case he tosses them out before he's finished.

He waits around a few more minutes before he decides to go start patrolling (because who knows how long it will take for Thor to fall asleep) before Natasha finds him and kills him for stiffing his job and calling her a bitch. She's got to know he didn't really mean it, though. He loves Natasha. He loves all of them. And Natasha being the only girl, everybody loves her because of how well she fits in—because she _definitely _fits in.

Just as Tony's about to press the elevator button it dings and slides open to reveal Loki in all of his black glory.

"Oh, there you are," Tony says, taking a step back. "I didn't know when point break was going to fall asleep so I was going to start my patrolling now. You heard the schedule this morning. Come on, I thought of my next project nearly right after you left." He turns around and walks back into his lab.

When Tony actually looks, Loki is chewing on his thumb nail again.

"You know," Tony says, "I actually feel really bad for you. Because when nobody else is talking I usually can't stop, and you're going to have to put up with my voice for the rest of the night."

Loki smiles. Just barely, just a little. Like a cat. Which is funny, because Tony really is allergic to them. He taps his forehead and then reaches out to Tony in a sort of "may I?" gesture.

Tony nods slowly, watching very closely as Loki's hand envelopes in a sort of black flame. He taps Tony lightly on the forehead before pressing his entire palm down.

A cold shiver runs through Tony's entire body and Loki steps away.

"_You won't have to talk the entire time,"_ a voice says inside of his head. _"I'm a magician, after all."_

Tony steps back, utterly surprised at a second voice inside of his head. "What did you do to me?" he asks quietly.

"_I simply granted myself the power to speak inside of your head. Now you won't have to pause and look for coals in the air."_

Tony blinks at the Liesmith, rubbing the spot on his forehead where he had been touched. "You can do that? I mean, obviously you can do that. I've just never thought about it before. Do you mind if I tell Natasha? She was trying to figure out how you'd communicate with us."

"_No,"_ Loki thinks into Tony's mind, ducking his head. _"No, please don't tell anybody about this. Thor knows that I do it sometimes, but the others will ask what else I can do because they're so nervous about it. That's why I like being around you more than the others; you're not as scared of me. And even if you are, you hide it best."_ He looks up at Tony shyly, bringing his thumb up to bite the nail again. Tony realizes how short both thumb nails are compared to the others. _"Not to mention that Thor really will question me to death if he finds that I let an outsider in on the secret. And I don't want that to happen. I like it here. Down here, I mean, in the basement. It's so…"_ He looks around the room slowly, eyeing everything. _"Quiet."_

Tony manages a snort (he's really not sure how, either, because his heart is beating _way_ too fast around the arc reactor…he's going to kill Jarvis for bringing shit like this to his attention). "You're not going to think that in about thirty minute's time," he says out loud. "What with all the lasers and power tools and maybe even the concrete drill I have, quiet is everything it's _not_."

Loki looks back over at him with a shy smile that makes Tony want to punch himself in the face. _"I look forward to it."_

Instead of the shiver his entire body wants to envelope into, Tony manages another snort. "Yes, I'm sure you are. And if that's the case…" He clasps his hands together. "I say we get started."

Loki nods. "_What's your project idea?"_ he asks through Tony's mind.

"Oh, nothing too important. I'm going to make a mute action for Jarvis because he pisses me off—"

"Anytime, sir."

Tony ignores the smart-aleck robot and continues to talk to Loki: "—and then I'm going to give him feelings he can turn off and on whenever he feels like it. Cause, hey, why not have my own personal Data controlling the mansion?"

Loki tilts his head in question. _"Data?"_

"Oh, sorry, you've probably never watched any of the Star Trek episodes. It's some good stuff, I'll put it up on the screen"—he points up to a large, flat screen TV on a wall—"sometime to have in the background while we work. Anyway, what do you think?"

Loki crosses his arms, dropping his thumb from his mouth to contemplate the idea. _"Are you sure giving a robot feelings is WISE?"_ he thinks. _"I mean, couldn't it—"_

"Okay, okay, I liked you better when you didn't talk. I don't care _what_ you think of the idea, I'm doing it anyway. So the real question is, do you want to help me with it or not?"

Loki looks directly into Tony's eyes before dropping them to the device in his chest. _"That's keeping you alive?"_ he thinks. _"Keeping the shards out of your heart?"_

"Right," Tony says with a nod. "Long story, got turned on by my friends, don't want to talk about it. Will you help me out with this pointless project or are you just going to camp out in front of the TV with Star Trek playing?"

Loki gives another of his teeny-tiny smiles. _"What's say we start with the blueprints to the mute action? Then we lay everything out and I snap my fingers and we're done. You're going to have to star thinking up even more pointless ideas to take up your time when I'm around."_

Tony smirks at him, going over to his table where he keeps all his blueprint paper. "I don't like this. You're making me like you. Quit it."

There's an odd breath behind Tony, and he whirls around to see Loki trying to hold in laughter.

"Oh, come on," Tony says, putting his hand on his hip and tilting his head at the taller man. "You won't even hardly blink at your brother, but _I'm_ getting you to _laugh_?"

"_Come now, you've met Thor,"_ Loki says into Tony's mind. _"He's not nearly as funny as he acts. I wouldn't laugh at him even if I did regularly blink at him."_

"Sure," Tony says skeptically, turning around to gather up his writing/drawing/blueprint making materials. "You may be the God of Lies and Mischief, buddy, but you've really lost your edge since not talking. Why don't you just—"

A hand grips onto Tony's shoulder, and he whirls around to see Loki standing right in front of him. Lordy, he's tall. Why is he so tall? Is Thor this tall? Maybe it's a god thing. Tony's never met Odin; he's probably tall too.

"_Even when I can talk to you in your mind you talk too much,"_ Loki thinks with a smile. A real smile. A toothless smile, but a real smile nonetheless.

"Right," Tony says awkwardly. "You can let go of my shoulder now. Put yourself to work and bring all of these over to the work table, yeah? I have to make sure I have some of this stuff—"

Loki shuts him up by kissing him.

Tony completely freezes against the other man, everything in his arms tumbling to the ground. Loki sidesteps everything and presses his body even closer to Tony, his hands reaching up to hold lightly to the sides of Tony's face.

"Loki," Tony says, managing to push the god away. "What are you _doing_?"

"_I'm a god, Tony,"_ he thinks. _"I do what I want."_

Tony arches an eyebrow. "Are you calling me a god?"

"_No, but you certainly act like one."_

"Yeah, Pepper tells me that a lot."

Loki studies Tony's face intently. _"Why aren't you running away?"_

"Because my legs won't move," Tony says simply.

"_But you don't seem nervous, either. I can't get to your emotions because I can't get to your heart. Your…that device is in my way."_

"Oh yeah, I'm dead nervous. In fact, I'm about to pass out. You know, I might even puke, so you might want to actually step back a ways. I am allergic to cats, remember. So maybe instead of staring at me like you're going to either eat me or throw me out of another window, you should just kiss me again before I lose it even more and tell Jarvis to get your brother."

So Loki kisses Tony again, his hands dropping down to grip tightly at his waist. His tongue slides past Tony's lips and teeth to ghost over his taste buds, and the genius billionaire whimpers and throws his arms around the taller man's neck to press up to him as closely as he can.

What is he doing? This is the first time in his entire life that he's even contemplated liking another man. In fact, even when Jarvis suggested it he didn't really _think_ about it. It was just "oh gross I don't want to like anybody ew Jarvis shut up" and that was that. But now Tony is thinking about it, and now Tony can't get it out of his head, and now he doesn't even _want_ it out of his head. He wants Loki to take him and ravish him against his desk, or even better pop up into his bedroom and have a little rough and tumble under his sheets. And let's face it: Tony Stark always gets what he wants, right? When he wants it, and how he wants it done. And he's never been one to deny himself anything, especially not a good fuck. On the other hand, he's also never wanted a man. Or to bottom… He's not even sure if he's comfortable with that. He's never really thought about how it's done, and he's never really wanted to before now. It just seems like it would…hurt.

"_It is amazing how clearheaded you are right now,"_ Loki thinks into Tony's head, pausing so that both of them can breathe. _"Amazing, actually. Thor can't think this straight even in everyday life."_

Tony wrinkles his nose up. "You slept with your _brother_?" he asks quietly.

"_Gods, no,"_ Loki thinks, _"I was just comparing your minds. I've never wanted my brother. You, on the other hand, I've wanted for a long time now."_

Tony swallows. "How did you know I was so clearheaded?"

Loki sends a laugh into Tony's mind that makes his entire body shiver. _"You didn't think I meant it when I told you that I only allowed you to hear my projected thoughts, did you? No, I also allowed myself to read your OWN mind as well. And I must say, it took a long while to find these ones about me...your conversation with your AI. They're embedded very deep; I had to start this myself or it never would have happened. But I won't lie to you anymore, I promise. And I may be the God of Lies and Mischief, but I have NEVER broken a promise. You can ask Thor if you like; he'll vouch for me. I make promises very sparingly."_

"I wouldn't care either way. You should just…take it off. For now. You can turn it back on later, but right now I want to—"

Loki taps Tony's forehead, and as soon as he removes it Tony pushes up on his tiptoes so he can again press his lips to the god's.

Loki snakes his arms all the way around Tony's waist, looping a thumb through the back belt loop and pulling him even closer. The other fingers slide up into his t-shirt, pressing lightly against the skin of Tony's back.

Tony tangles a hand into Loki's black hair. It's _almost_ like holding a woman because his hair is so much longer than most men's, except for the fact that he's taller, has a flat chest, and just all around _isn't_ a woman.

"_I didn't think you would kiss me back,"_ Loki thinks, sliding the hand not attached to Tony's belt loop around to his hip. He slips that hand underneath the shirt, ghosting it over his skin.

"I didn't even know I wanted to," Tony breathes. "I don't even know what I'm doing."

Loki smiles warmly down at him, arching Tony's back so that he's arched against him even more. _"Well,"_ he thinks, holding on tightly, _"I know EXACTLY what I'M doing."_

Tony suddenly feels the same squeezing sensation he felt when Loki earlier teleported them to and from his tower, and next thing he knows they're standing in the middle of his bedroom.

Loki, with the ease of a god, picks Tony up in his arms to then put him back down on the bed. He crawls on after him, going above him until his hands are on either side of Tony's head and he's kneeling with his legs on either side of Tony's left leg so that one of his knees is pressed lightly against Tony's cock.

"_I know you've been with far too many women to count,"_ Loki whispers into Tony's head, dipping his head down to press his lips to Tony's neck, _"But I know that I'm going to be your first of the…"_ His tongue darts down, slicking the skin. _"Male sex."_

"Right," Tony says, his voice shaking as Loki sucks heavily at his skin. "Right, so I hope you know everything. Because I don't know a thing."

"_That was assumed,"_ Loki thinks, adding teeth to his sucking. _"Which is fine by my account. I'm doing this mostly for you, after all."_

Tony's heart flutters, and not exactly in a good way. "What do you mean?" he asks.

"_I need you, but you need me more. You're so empty, Tony Stark. Years of mindless women and saving the world. I may refuse to speak and hardly leave my brothers side, but you still need this more than I."_

"Then why are you doing this? You're a god; you have no reason to do it simply for the benefit of an everyday mortal man."

"_I told you. I like you, and I have for a long time now. It's not simply for yours. Just…mostly."_

"You're the God of Lies; how do I know you're not going to inject some weird serum into me if I let you have me?" Yeah, right. Poison laced cum is a stretch, even to Tony, who's seen his fair share of weird things. Things like men turning into giant green raging monsters, hammers spinning so fast it allows someone to fly, a normal looking metal shield withstanding the power of said hammer, and Pepper actually laughing at one of his jokes. All that's weird, but poison release is just spooky.

"_I told you I wouldn't lie to you anymore, didn't I? So I'll say—well, 'say' right now that I will never purposely hurt you or do anything that will end up hurting you. And I will define the word 'hurt' as putting you in danger physically or emotionally, and that includes hurting your friends. Because hurting them means hurting you, and seeing as though I don't want to hurt anybody anymore it's an easy promise to make. I will, on the other hand, hurt anybody if it means protecting you. That's a promise. Understand?"_ He nibbles softly at the skin of Tony's neck.

Tony bites his bottom lip to keep from moaning out loud. Nobody's ever had their mouth on his neck before; it's always the other way around.

"Under one condition," he finally gets out in a normal voice.

Loki chuckles in his mind. _"It doesn't matter if you understand or not, I've already made the promise. But you may still tell me this…condition, if it pleases you to do so."_

"Two things, actually."

"_Continue…"_

"The first, this is kept strictly between us. If anybody finds out about this they're going to murder you before sending your body back to Asgard, and if specifically your brother finds out he's going to strike me with lightning before throwing me into a bottomless pit."

Loki smiles against Tony's neck before pulling back. _"He wouldn't touch anything that makes me happy,"_ he thinks, _"but I accept. What's number two?"_

Tony lets out a breath. "Lordy, I feel like I'm making deals with the devil."

"_Yes, yes, you're sleeping with him, too. Hurry up; the sex drive of a god is three times as strong as that of a mortal. You don't want an impatient god straddling you, Tony Stark."_

"Yes, _that's_ the problem!" Tony says, launching right into it so he doesn't get snapped in two. "You just keep calling me by both my first and last name together. If you're going to have me you at least have to call me by my first name. I may not care when I'm the one having someone, but seeing as though I'll be putting out I want it to be…better. Oh, and don't be so…so _reserved_. I hate quiet lovers; they're so boring."

Loki frowns slightly. _"I'm not going to speak out loud," _he thinks.

"Oh no, that's not what I'm asking. Just say it into my head. I just don't want to hear my last name out of your mouth ever again. Just…I don't know, moan really loud or something."

Loki smirks, leaning back down to press his lips hard against Tony's. _"Make me."_

It doesn't matter that Tony is a sex god, mastered in the arts of keeping himself quiet while being pleasured. At all of Loki's tongue, teeth, and hand pawing him through his jeans, he moans. He didn't want to, just to rub it in Loki's face a bit, but keeping quiet just isn't going to happen.

Tony grabs onto the sides of Loki's face and pulls him in for another kiss, leaning up to meet him halfway, digging his toes into the heels of his shoes to kick them over the edge of the bed. Loki pushes his tongue past Tony's teeth and slides it against the roof of his mouth. The genius billionaire trails his hands slowly from Loki's face and down his neck…his shoulders…the planes of his chest. They trail up and underneath the shirt, causing a shudder to ripple through Loki's entire body at the skin-to-skin contact.

Tony pushes Loki's tongue back with his own, taking Loki's mouth with ravishing licks. The taller man closes his lips on Tony, and then, slowly sucks Tony's tongue in as far as he can before pulling out while still sucking in. Tony moans, gripping onto Loki's sides from underneath the shirt.

And then Loki is pulling away completely, sitting up on top of Tony with his legs straddling him. He loops his fingers beneath his shirt and pulling it off in one swift movement that turns it inside out.

"Oh gods," Tony whispers, sitting up as well, grinding himself into Loki in the process. There's a six-pack easy, so he must still work out even while he doesn't eat. Or maybe it's just a god thing. Thor doesn't work out, but he still looks like a fucking bodybuilder. But this god here—the one grinding his manhood into Tony's with a feral look in his emerald green eyes—doesn't have near as much hair as his brother. There's the smallest of a light brown trail disappearing into his tight black pants, and Tony can't help but trail his fingers through it. When Loki arches up into his hand slightly, Tony leans forward and presses his lips to Loki's chest, starring up into brilliant green orbs that are shimmering down at Tony even in the darkness of the room.

Loki's gives a fluttery smile as Tony turns his head and presses his tongue against his left nipple. He slicks the skin there, causing it to strain into being erect, and Loki moans before closing his eyes and slowly tangling his fingers into the back of dark hair. Tony lets his eyes drift shut as well, fluttering his lashes against Loki's chest as he nibbles gently at the nipple.

When Tony moves over to the other one, Loki's hands drop down to Tony's sides. _"Lean back,"_ he thinks into Tony's head, the voice a husky whisper. When Tony does, only by a few inches, Loki pulls off his shirt and tosses it to the floor. He pushes the shorter man onto his back completely before swinging around until his legs are bent and in front of him, using magic to untie the laces of his boots with a single snap of his fingers. After he pulls them off and tosses them silently to the ground, he crawls down his legs, pulling off Tony's jeans as he goes. Then he crawls back up and lies on top of Tony, pressing their lips together.

Tony reaches his hands down to Loki's pants and slides a finger behind the threads holding his tight black pants together (where he would usually find a button and a zipper, but these are Asgardian pants), feeling ripples through Loki's chest at the touch. He drags his finger around until the pants are unthreaded, and the two men shift around until Loki's pants have too joined the growing pile on the floor.

Tony grips onto Loki's hips and grinds their groins together, both men gasping at the better contact through thinner fabric of boxers and whatever the hell they call underwear in Asgard.

"Lordy you're hard," Tony says around Loki's lips, slipping a hand into the back of Loki's boxers.

Loki shudders, nipping at bruised lips. _"Like YOU'RE not,"_ the voice in his head says.

Tony smiles against Loki's mouth, slipping his hands around to the front of the other man's body.

Loki moans at the contact, bucking into Tony's hands. His kissing goes down to zero as Tony rubs against him.

"_Tony,"_ Loki growls into his mind. _"I don't think so."_

Tony's boxers are on the floor and his arms are pushed above his head with one of Loki's hands in about half of a second. A shiver ripples down his spine at the sight of Loki staring hungrily down at him, licking his lips before staring Tony dead in the eyes. A snap of his fingers later and the god is stark naked as well (if Tony wasn't so hard he would laugh; he's about to get ravished by the god with a reputation for having his true talents in his tongue and he's making jokes. It's a good thing Loki can't read his mind right now). And his mouth goes dry at the sight of Loki kneeling above his cock. (He's let go of his arms now, but Tony still has them pinned up forcibly… Must be magic.) For someone so tall and thin, Loki's cock isn't quite as lengthy as Tony's, but its thickness could rival Thor's biceps. Okay, not really, but it really is thick as hell.

Giving Tony a wink that sends his mind reeling (both because he's about to get blown by a man—that man being Loki—and the fact that it's so different from the shy god Tony's seen all this visit so far) before leaning down and licking the head of Tony's cock, lapping up precum as Tony moans.

And then, without warning, he takes Tony completely down to the root, burying his nose in dark curls as Tony's sounds of pleasure echo off the walls of the bedroom. Loki swirls his tongue around a moment before beginning to bob up and down on Tony's manhood, starring up at Tony as he writhes. Tony wants to look back at him, but all he can do is let his head drop back and his eyes roll. Tony's never really thought about a man being really good at this stuff, but for all of the women he's ever been with, Loki blows all of them out of the water (Tony still cracking jokes inside of his head; he is a very bad man indeed).

Loki reaches with one hand to twirl Tony's balls, his other hand holding the man's hips down.

"Aahh," Tony moans. "Loki, I…I'm going to…"

He doesn't finish, but Loki is ready. He erupts into the god's mouth, moaning his name over and over again. Somehow Loki manages to swallow every last drop. What, has he done this before? Tony doesn't want to think about it.

"Lordy," Tony breathes, pushing his fingers through the mess of long black hair on Loki's head.

The Liesmith smiles smugly up at him and rests his head on Tony's stomach, his chest over Tony's freshly sated cock. _"You know,"_ he thinks, _"I've never actually done that before."_

Tony can't help but widen his eyes. "You're kidding. I've had a couple first timers at my real place, and none of them ever managed to swallow completely. You were better than even the ones I brought back more than once."

Loki shrugs, folding his arms up on Tony's chest. _"I read a lot. It's not as hard as people think."_

Tony laughs, pushing himself up. Loki sits up as well, shifting his legs to find a comfortable position for his own hard on.

Tony notices, but before Loki can notice him noticing he smiles and leans forward to press his lips to Loki's. He kisses him languidly, letting his hands reach out to trace everywhere along Loki's chest. He crawls forward until he's straddling Loki's waist, grinding his arse into the Liesmith's groin.

Loki moans against Tony's mouth, giving Tony the opportunity to slide his tongue into his mouth.

"You know what I would really enjoy?" the Tony whispers against the corner of Loki's mouth. He kisses a trail up to Loki's earlobe and nibbles.

Loki tilts his head away, exposing his neck. _"Are you—"_ he begins to think, but cuts off when Tony starts to suck on his neck, starts to bite. He swallows. _"What do you want?"_

"I want you," Tony says, letting his warm breath flow over the wet on Loki's neck, "to fuck me like your bitch."

Loki's entire body freezes except his cock, which literally jumps.

Tony breathes a chuckle. "I felt that. Does it mean yes?"

"_Gods,"_ he thinks in a whisper, gripping onto Tony's hips. _"Yes. Yes. Odin, yes."_

Tony smiles. "You're going to have to get me going again, then. I want to be as hard as you."

Loki looks down at Tony's cock and strokes it, causing Tony's entire body to shudder. _"You're over halfway there already,"_ he thinks, looking up into Tony's eyes; eyes he knows are dark with lust.

Tony leans back in to suck on Loki's neck. "If that was your first blowjob," he whispers, "have you ever been with any others?"

Loki takes a deep, shaky breath. _"No,"_ he thinks. _"Just you."_

Tony's mouth trails up to Loki's lips, pushing the teeth out of the way to take a hold of his bottom lip with just his tongue. Loki suddenly kisses him hard, pushing him even harder onto his back on the bed. They're at it with an all new passion within seconds, Loki's hand on Tony's cock, rubbing him back to being rock hard. Tony is bucking into his hand and gripping at the peach halves of his ass, kneading with his fingertips.

"Aahh, Loki, stop it, I'm ready."

Loki lets go of him instantly. _"I may be able to teleport to different dimensions,"_ he thinks, _"but I can't actually seep lube out of the pours in my hands._

Tony gets the hint right away, reaching into a drawer beside his bed and producing a bottle of said substance, tossing it onto the bed.

"_Turn around,"_ the god says, and Tony obeys. He watches Loki squirts some of the lube on his fingers and lean around Tony's side before swirling a finger slowly around the entrance.

"Oh lordy," Tony hisses when Loki pushes the first finger past the sphincter muscles. "That's cold."

"_And tight,"_ Loki breathes into his mind, biting lightly at the skin of Tony's shoulder.

When Loki's pushed in three fingers, Tony is ready.

"_Turn over,"_ Loki thinks, squirting more lube into his hands. He coats his cock as Tony turns over, dabbing lightly against the other man's opening. _"Ready, love?"_

Tony's entire body tenses at the use of the word "love". What does it mean? Nothing more, does it? Tony's not sure if he's ready for that. He's more ready for something like that with Jarvis than he is with Loki. It hasn't even been a full forty-eight hours. He couldn't mean it like he loves Tony, could he? Tony shakes his head mentally at himself. Sex now, thinking later.

He nods, smiling warmly up at the god. Lordy, smiling warmly at the God of Mischief when he's about to fuck him silly. What is wrong with him?

Loki pushes in slowly, watching carefully to Tony's face for any signs of pain. Tony only calls out once, but Loki corrects it quick and easy. He has a steady rhythm going soon, twisting his hips every few thrusts.

Tony's chest is heaving and his hands are gripping at the sheets and he just can't stop smiling because Loki is actually one of the loudest lovers he's ever had—and he has had some _loud_ women over. He's not sure if it's because of his request for Loki to let loose or if it's really how he is, but Tony doesn't care. He just loves it.

But suddenly Tony's own moans go completely silent, and Loki looks Tony dead in the eyes as Tony's dark eyes snap open. Stars explode in front of his eyes, and let lets out a long, deep moan.

Loki grins, looking down at their coupling. _"Found it,"_ he grunts into his head.

Tony suddenly reaches out for Loki, and the god seems all too happy to comply. He leans down and presses his lips to the other man's, and Tony reaches down to his own cock as it sits there all lonely like. But Loki reaches down without looking and swats Tony's hand away, taking the job for himself.

"Oh lordy, Lo-Loki, I'm close…" Tony moans, digging his fingernails into Loki's back.

"_Yeah,"_ Loki moans into his mind. _"Me too, me too."_

Tony comes first. Loki is pushed over the edge as soon as he looks up into Tony's eyes, and he moans incoherently until he's spent.

He falls down onto Tony, staring dreamily into his eyes.

"_You're so beautiful,"_ Loki whispers into Tony's head, kissing him slowly, lightly. _"You don't mind if I stay here for the rest of the night, do you?"_

Tony kisses him back, reaching his hands up to twine into the other man's hair. "Not at all," he whispers around pale lips. "In fact, you can stay forever, if you want to."

Loki pulls away just long enough to smile warmly at him. _"Don't tempt me."_


	3. Day 3

**Day 3**

Tony wakes up wrapped tightly in someone's arms. He panics for about half a second before everything from the night before floods back into his head.

He turns his head to see that Loki is already awake, his head held up by his hand crooked up by his elbow. His shoulder-length black hair is generally smoothed out to what it was last night, and his lust-flushed skin is back to its normal pale as pale can be. His top lip is chewing on his bottom one, and his emerald green eyes are clear as night and boring into his own.

"You didn't sleep at all, did you?" Tony asks quietly, giving the god a knowing look.

Loki gives him one of the most tired, toothless smiles Tony has ever seen before shaking his head no.

"Why not? Too much sleep back when everyone was watching that movie? A whole, what, three hours worth, _maybe_?"

Loki averts his eyes, a shy sort of smile on his lips. He raises the hand not holding his head up and holds up four fingers.

"Ooh, _four_ hours?" Tony says, reaching a hand up to weave his fingers through Loki's to stop him from biting his thumb nail. "That's enough to keep you goin', huh? What do you even do? Just stare at me or whoever else is in the same room as you?"

Loki nods, bringing the hand that Tony's holding to his mouth so he can chew on the nail anyway.

"Who is this sudden god of shyness I'm speaking to? Kiss me."

Loki pulls this thumb out of his mouth and leans down to do just that. Tony may need to brush his teeth, but he was still ready for something steamy. But Loki kisses him slowly instead, the hand twined with Tony's untwining to reach up and rest against the side of Tony's face. His tongue slides slowly into his mouth, drawing out Tony's own tongue before sucking lightly on it.

Tony gives a ghost of a moan, reaching both arms up to wrap around Loki's neck.

"You know," he says when Loki has given him his tongue back, staring down at him with eyes filled with…something. Lust? Tiredness? Need? Not love, not yet. "It was my job to patrol the inside last night. You didn't sneak off while I was asleep, did you?"

"_I wouldn't have needed to,"_ Loki's voice, smooth as silk, says into Tony's head. _"I can create clones, remember?"_

"Right, right. I can take that as a no, then?"

He nods. _"I only got up once to use the bathroom."_

Tony sits up. "Speaking of which." Completely unabashed, he swings out of bed in all his naked glory and pads across the carpet to the bathroom. And, while he's in here, he brushes his teeth and throws some cold water into his face to wake him up. He wonders what time it is.

When he reaches around for a towel, though, Loki is already holding one out to him, dressed back in his black pants.

"_Thor will wake up soon,"_ Loki thinks. _"I need to get back."_

"And I just brushed my teeth for you," Tony says with a flippant smile. "Will you come down to help me with the mute action, later?"

Loki shakes his head, causing Tony's heart to fall. _"I should spend the day with Thor. I'll come for the feelings, though, yeah? You should get out of your basement more often. Take Rogers or Banner or Barton out to lunch or something. They'd love that."_

Tony purses his lips and nods. "Yeah, they would, wouldn't they? Guess I'll see you around. Tell Thor I said hi, would you?"

Loki nods once before stepping forward to envelope Tony in a hug, pressing his lips to his forehead. _"Goodbye, Tony,"_ he whispers into Tony's head. And then he's gone, popping out of Tony's momentary existence.

"Bye," Tony whispers back, arms wrapped around air.

"Sir, if I may say something…" Jarvis says into the room.

"Yes, almighty caretaker of mine?" Tony snaps, walking to the shower to clean himself up. Last night was pretty messy, after all.

"I don't think this is a very good idea."

Tony snorts. "Yes, Jarvis, thank you for your input."

"Also, Ms. Romanov is coming to rag on you. What's your excuse, sir?"

"Excuse?" Damn, she was probably walking around last night and didn't see him anywhere. "She simply never saw me walking around."

"No, sir. She saw last night's basement surveillance footage."

Tony freezes under the hot water. "She _what_? Why didn't you delete it?!"

"I did, sir. She must have been watching from her quarters."

Tony groans, washing himself up as quickly as possible. He only just dries off, a towel around his waist, when his door bursts open—which is scary all in itself, seeing as though there's a key code you need to get into the door, which means Natasha has it _again_ and Tony needs to change it _again_.

"Stark!" she all but screams, slamming the door behind her. "I know you don't like listen to rules, but what the _hell_ are you doing? He is still in the top five list of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s most dangerous for precautions, but you have to go and _sleep_ with the guy?—even on your _patrol_ night? What the hell is this?"

Tony rolls his eyes, because that's how he gets past everything: sarcasm, wit, and not caring.

"Chill out, Widow," he says, pulling out some clothes. "You know I sleep with anything that throws itself at me. It's not like it was personal." Not really…

"That is no excuse, Stark! You could very well be putting all of our lives at stake!"

"Could," Tony says, motioning for her to turn around so he can get dressed. This isn't the first time she's barged in on him, so she knows what the motion means all too well. "But it won't, okay? I haven't let my guard down at all." He turns towards her, clean boxers on now, to piercing eyes of fire. He doesn't care that she looked back while he was naked to glare at him; Natasha is the only person in the entire world he's truly scared of. "Okay, maybe a little. But the guy's a wreck, Nat. The most he's done to me when I boss him around is chew on either of his thumb nails. And when I woke up this morning he hadn't slept a wink. Honestly, if he weren't too tired to even move half the time I still wouldn't think he'd hurt anyone." He pulls on a pair of nicer jeans, because he really is going to bring either Steve or Bruce to lunch today (not Clint; they don't get along _that_ well)—which of the two, he doesn't know. Probably Bruce; it's been a while since they've got together for a chat. "If he won't even talk to his own brother he's not going to turn on us. And, if he is going to, you guys will be ready for it, because I'm obviously the only one who has a soft spot for the guy. And Thor, but he doesn't count."

Natasha lets out a spasm of random sounds at her annoyance with Tony. "I don't care _what_ you think. If you don't back off I'm going to tell Fury."

That gets Tony's attention, but he still doesn't care. "Ooh, you're going to set the big bad direction on me?" Tony says, pulling one of his nicer t-shirts over his head. "Real scary, Natasha. I'm more scared of you than I am of Fury. What's the worst he can do to me? Take away my drill, probably. Because you know I don't give a damn if he kicks me off the team. Even if he does it's not going to stop me from flying around in my suit, and it's certainly not going to stop me from sleeping with Thor's little brother. So, if you tell Fury, nothing's going to get better. In fact, it will probably just make things worse since I OWN HALF OF THE THINGS IN THIS MANSION."

Natasha sighs one of those sighs she sighs when she realizes Tony is right. She has a very specific sigh for each of the Avenger members. While the sigh she gives Bruce is more like a short laugh, the one she gives Tony is deep and angry and always seems to last forever.

"You're right," she says, putting her hands on her hips. "I hate it when you're right. Damn you, Stark. You and your suit and your tower and your fucking boyfriend. You keep all of this to yourself, understand? No telling Cap or Bruce and especially not Clint. And _definitely_ not Thor."

Tony snorts. "Like I planned to anyway. Loki and I already agreed to keep it to ourselves. We're not stupid."

She sighs again, a little less angry now. "Right. Good talk. I lost, but it was good. Come talk to me if anything goes wrong, alright? I don't want this getting out to more people than it needs to. Oh, and another thing before I go…"

Tony cocks an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"Everyone knows about Clint and I, don't they?"

"We all have for months, yeah. Don't break up with him, okay? You guys are actually really good for each other."

"Yeah, well, don't call me a bitch, either."

"You know you deserved it."

"True, but that's no excuse."

"Calm down, Widow, you know I love you almost as much as I love Pepper."

"You don't love _any_body as much as you love Pepper."

Tony smirks, grabbing a thin sweatshirt. It's June, after all. Nice and warm out, if Tony didn't get cold so easily. "Yet you're the only one who's ever said that to me."

She rolls her eyes. "Forget it. I don't even know why I come in here sometimes. You don't even remember half of what I say."

"Glad you're finally figuring that out. Up for some breakfast?"

"It's nearly ten in the morning. You know I only eat breakfast at seven or before."

"Fine, brunch, then. You know I'm not even coherent at seven. And we'll bring Bruce with us."

"I have work to do."

"Like what? Set up for the next world war? You have to take a break _some_time, don't you?"

"I watched a movie yesterday, didn't I?"

"Fine, don't come. I'll take Bruce by myself. But you can know that, while you're working, we're having _fun_."

She narrows her eyes at him. "No brunch. Lunch. Meet outside of the front door at eleven-thirty. We'll walk to the nearest Red Robin."

"Well be _mobbed_."

"Not on my watch."

"Are you kidding? Iron Man, the Hulk, _and_ Black Widow? You're not _that_ scary."

She smirks at him, turning to swing the door open. "Of course I'm not." And she turns her head just barely to flash Tony an evil looking grin.

And Tony's not going to lie, he is a teensy bit scared.

**XxX**

At eleven-thirty exactly, Tony (who swapped his jeans and t-shirt look out for a suit; gotta keep up his public appearance, right?) steps out of the front door of the mansion with Bruce at his side. It took a bit of coaxing for his fellow scientist to agree to come, and even then it was only because Tony told him that Natasha all but promised everyone would keep their distance. For someone who once thrived in a little heat zone full of sick and dying people, he sure does like avoiding people more than ever lately. Maybe it's just the Avengers environment that has him wound up all the time. Whatever.

Tony and Bruce joke around about Natasha dropping down from the roof in full Wolverine battle gear to fend off the fans, and while Tony really thought she'd be in her regular assassin clothes, the front door beside them slowly opens at eleven-thirty-four to reveal one of the prettiest women Tony has ever seen. Even Bruce's jaw is dropped.

Natasha is in a white summer dress with baby blue flower prints and little pastel green swirls. Her red hair is styled prettily under a white net hat, and she's actually wearing thick-soled white flip-flops. Her fingernails are painted the same blue as on her dress, and her toenails are the same green. She has dangling earrings shaped like roses, a necklace with an opal at the end, and a silver bracelet with six different charms on it: an S, F, T, B, and a C.

"Before you say anything," she says, holding her hands up, "I'm actually fully equipped for a battle here. The opal of my necklace acts like a grenade if activated, my earrings are little knives, and my flip-flops are thick-soled because they'll turn into tight shoes that encase all of my feet when I want them to. And _this_…" She holds up the wrist with the charm bracelet. "Each letter stands for a member of the Avengers. Steve, Fury, Clint, and then you two. Thor would be a hammer, but seeing as though he lives in a different world I decided I'd leave him alone."

Tony blinks at her. "Bur what exactly do they _do_?"

She smiles. "Built in pager that I always have on me when I'm not in my regular assassin attire. Hacks into the nearest phone or other means of contact to whoever it is I'm trying to get a hold of. So, Tony, if I was trying to get a hold of you in your suit, it'd pop up in the corner and Jarvis would tell you that I'm calling. And Bruce, if I was trying to find _you_…" She takes the B charm and presses it hard between her fingers.

And the next thing Tony knows, Bruce is pulling a ringing phone out of his pocket.

Bruce smiles at it and answers. "You'll have to make one of those for me," he says into the phone, his voice coming out of Natasha's charm. "Just a little manlier. Green, maybe."

"Maybe," she says into her wrist. "We can all get one. Red and gold for Tony like his suit, black for Fury like his eye patch, purple for Clint because of _his_ suit, green for you, and red, white, and blue for Steve. We'll all one big happy Avengers family."

And they begin their walk.

"So, Tony told me we'd be left alone…" Bruce says quietly as they walk along.

"Boys," Natasha says, jumping from Tony's left to between them, linking her arms in theirs. "Since Tony's birth and Bruce's joining the team, you will never again experience such a day of calm."

Bruce chuckles. "I don't know, Natasha. I've slept for days straight before. Those were pretty calm."

She gives the laughing sigh that Tony wishes he would get sometimes. "Alright, you win. For Tony, on the other hand, this might be new."

"Probably," Tony says, smiling down at her from behind his sunglasses. "Because my calmest days include loud drills and flying around in a metal suit with all sorts of weapons. You're the most dangerous thing here right now, you know. I mean, I'm a pretty good boxer, but Bruce and I like this are nothing."

She smiles. "And let's keep it that way."

They continue on to the nearest Red Robin, which is really quite close considering that the Avengers Mansion is only a couple of blocks from Stark Tower, the tower being right in the middle of the city. (Tony loves the city. He doesn't like the people that much, but he sure loves being in the heat of things. Showing off and pretending he loves his fans. It's the most fun a guy can have when stress makes him feel better—so Bruce should just…stay home.) And there's barely a soul on the streets. And the ones that are are just doing their everyday lives, not even acknowledging the three superheroes.

"What did you _do_?" Tony asks Natasha, automatically covering his face from a passerby that doesn't even care. Tony's just used to the entire world trying to get to him, but when the world isn't around…well, it's weird.

"Pulled out some personal favors with our neighborhood God of Mischief," Natasha says casually.

Tony snorts and Bruce _stares_ at her. "You _what_?" Tony asks, pulling her closer to him to stare at her a little better."

"Well," she says, "after our little talk I decided to test out your…theory…of Loki actually being harmless. Did you know that he can trace words in the air with coals?"

"Yeah," Tony says, only just holding himself back from telling her about Loki being able to talk into his head as well. "Go on."

"Yes, well, I went into their bedroom and got Thor to get Loki to speak—well, I say speak—to me about a question I had. I brought up this thing that happened when we were back on the concrete ship"—(Bruce tenses up a bit)—"that I won't explain now, but I finally got it through to him that he owed me something. So I told him to make a few clones, turn into different Avengers, and go parade through the town giving autographs. So everyone is around Stark Tower right now while _we're_ way over _here_."

Tony snorts. "And you were mad at _me_ for trusting him? You gave him the idea of using all of our powers! You are in_sane_!"

"What can I say?" she says, looking up at him with slightly narrowed eyes. "You nearly got through to me. The only reason I got myself to make him do it is because I didn't want to get mobbed either, and I knew Bruce did even less. So it was all worth it, really."

Tony smiles, looking out in the direction of the tower. Whatever happened between Loki and Natasha must have been big, or else this is the biggest favor anyone has ever asked him to do. In fact, it's probably the only one _ever_.

The three of them make it to Red Robin in one piece, and are only slightly deterred by two waitresses (that are too young for Tony) asking for their autographs and then apologizing over and over again. But even Bruce signed the notepads they had, so it wasn't _that_ bad. They get a seat outside on the front street where they can bask in the calm of not being taken over in public, each ordering something completely different. Tony a juicy burger, Bruce a salad, and Natasha gives a guilty smile when she orders off the kids menu.

They're about halfway through when, suddenly, something shimmers beside them that makes Tony jump, Natasha turn with a bored stare, and Bruce scoot closer to Tony. But it's only Loki (Tony has to force himself not to snort; never in his entire life did he ever think that he would not be frightened because _it's just Loki_), dressed in his leather and creepy antelope helmet.

"Loki?" Tony and Natasha say together. "What is it?" Natasha continues. "Did everyone see through your clones?"

Loki shakes his head no before reaching a hand up to chew on his thumb nail, his other hand writing coals in the air: _HOW MUCH LONGER?_

"I'd say a couple of hours," Natasha says, taking a bit of her mac 'n cheese.

Loki cringes and switches thumbs. _TWO?_

She shrugs. "It's been an hour already, but we're still eating and we still need to make it back to the mansion. Not to mention I need to swing by a store to—"

"Oh, now you're just being mean," Bruce says quietly, so close to Tony it's actually kind of weird. "So far he hasn't given us a single reason to treat him badly, and you're lying to him about needing to go to a store?"

She gives him the laugh-sigh. "Fine," she says out loud, leaning back in her chair and looking up at the god. "One more hour. But don't just disappear into clouds of whatever it is you disappear into. Give us a _good_ exit. Especially Tony since he's always a rotten show off."

Tony can tell Loki is holding back a smirk as he turns to him, nodding. _I KNOW_, the words say.

"Right, well, get back to work," Natasha says, flitting her hand at him. "We're eating."

Loki keeps looking intently at Tony, his coals burning away to nothing. _"Wait here for me,"_ he thinks into Tony's head.

Tony gives the tiniest of nods back, and then Loki is gone. Tony's not sure how he's going to tell Natasha and Bruce that they're going to have to walk back without him, but he'll figure that out after they're done eating.

**XxX**

Forty-five minutes later, Tony has it all planned out. He'll tell Natasha the truth and Bruce something else entirely.

"Thanks for paying for us all, Tony," Bruce says with a warm smile. "I didn't even know I left my wallet till the end of this. I can't even remember the last time I was out in public to use it."

"Yeah, no problem," Tony says with the same smile. "I invited you both anyway, so my treat. Also, Natasha, if I may have a private word with you…"

She nods, and Bruce shrugs when they look at him because somehow he just never seems to care when people whisper around him. Whatever he does not to care, Tony envies him, because he's tried his best not to care about a damn thing for a long time now. Except people; he's always been okay with having friends, for whatever reason he doesn't know.

"What?" Natasha whispers loud enough for Tony but not for Bruce.

"I'm gonna stay here, okay? You two go back without me."

"What, waiting for you boyfriend?"

"He's not my boyfriend. But yes, I'm waiting for him. Tell the others I'm getting something for Pepper, yeah?"

She nods. "Sure."

"Also," he says louder, so Bruce can hear too, "Did you tell the others about their evil twins running around the city?"

"Oh, yeah, I got the others permission first. And, actually, I think the real Captain America is actually out there right now. Well, and Thor. But Loki is all three of us, Clint, and himself. I didn't even _suggest_ Fury."

Bruce chuckles. "It's amazing how wrong this could go."

Natasha smirks. "Don't jinx it, Banner. Come on, Tony here really does have some shopping to do. If anyone asks you, he's out for Pepper."

Bruce raises an eyebrow. "Oh? Tell her I say hi."

Tony nods. "Of course."

They all wave to each other, and then the doesn't-even-look-like-a-couple heads out.

Tony waits until they're long gone before sitting back down at the table, twiddling his thumbs. The waitresses come out and clear his table, smiling brightly at Tony, who hardly gives one back. Ten minutes later, Loki appears at his side in an outfit of leather. And not his regular leather, either. It's more like clubbing leather. Tight, shiny leather pants, a faded leather jacket with a thin white t-shirt underneath, and the same boots as usual.

Tony blinks at him. "Why are you dressed like a fifties teenager?"

He looks down at himself, twisting his ankle out like a girl and chewing on his thumb nail. _"Crazy fangirls,"_ he says into Tony's mind. _"Apparently, even while being destroyed, they still wanted me to win. They wanted to see me in leather and Thor forced me to indulge them. Have you ever heard of fanfiction?"_

Tony wrinkles his nose up. "No, and I really don't want to. You should…change. I mean, way to rock the leather, but I do try to stay within the legal range when it comes those that I sleep with."

With a shimmer and as he sits down across from Tony, Loki's clothes change into what he was wearing yesterday. _"Mmm, yes, Agent Romanov didn't want to know either."_

"You talked to her?" Tony asks.

"_No, I wrote coals for her. But yes, I popped in on her before coming here to tell her how it had gone. Do you like chocolate?"_

Tony blinks at him. "I…yeah, why?"

Loki shrugs, chewing on his nail.

And before Tony can answer, the same two waitresses come screaming out of the building for Loki's autograph. He sighs, rubbing his hands down his face before snapping his fingers. The girls scream some more when the signature simply appears on their notepads, and just as they're about to walk away Tony stops them:

"Hang on, let me see that," he says to one of the girls.

She holds the pad out to him, and he looks closely at the signature before telling them thank you and to go.

"_What was that about?"_ Loki thinks.

"Does your brother know that you sign everything with 'Laufeyson' instead of 'Odinson'?"

Loki averts his eyes and chews on his thumb. _"No."_

"And what would he say if he did?"

"_I have made it plenty clear to Thor that I do not consider Odin my father. BUT, he would ask me if I thought ill of him because I do not acknowledge our brotherly relations in written terms."_

Tony snorts. "Sorry, sorry, I just haven't heard anybody say 'ill' in any context for a few decades now. But about your signature… Your father's name was _Laufey_?"

Loki flicks his hand at him. _"Were YOU born a Jotun Frost Giant? No. No you weren't. So just keep to yourself about names, alright? Do you like white chocolate?"_

"Why do you keep asking me about chocolate?"

Loki sighs out of his nose and slumps into his chair. _"Because,"_ he thinks, _"I got a lot of coupons thrown at me for this really nice chocolate shop for an entire pound of white chocolate, and I meant to just let them all land on the ground, but somehow one of them got stuck in one of the plates on my arm. So, if you like white chocolate, I'm your guy. Because I don't like it, so I really hope somebody around here does."_

Tony tilts his head, trying not to laugh. "Yeah, white chocolate, sounds good. But first let's go back to my tower, because the city is coming back to life."

Loki makes a groaning face, but no sound actually comes out. Then he reaches across the table to Tony, and the familiar squeezing sensation is forced upon him until he opens his eyes to see that he's standing in the penthouse. But then Loki is against him, pressing his body up against the window that he was thrown out of, the upper-half of his nice fabric suit being all but torn apart by Loki's long fingers. He gets everything above his waist off eventually, dropping it to the ground as he ravishes Tony's mouth.

"Wow," Tony says, running his hands up Loki's shirt. "I should get you out in public more often," he says as Loki buries his face in his neck.

"_Don't you dare,"_ Loki says into his head, a growl emitting out loud from his throat. He latches onto skin with his teeth, biting hard. Tony moans, dropping his head to the side to give Loki a better access.

"_What would you say,"_ Loki says huskily into Tony's head, _"if I were to start taking you against this window right now?"_

"Right now?" Tony breathes, pushing Loki's face away from him just long enough to push his shirt over his head.

Loki growls again, reaching around to grip Tony's ass and grind themselves against each other. _"RIGHT now,"_ he thinks.

"I think I would suggest going along to the king sized bed in the bedroom one floor down."

With an almost feral agreement, Loki hitches his arms around Tony so that he's lifted up. Tony wraps his legs around Loki's waist, both men grinding into each other as they lean away from the window. The god walks easily across the large penthouse and to the elevator, clicking the buttons with Tony's back. The inside button, though, Tony pauses kissing him for all of a second to push the next floor down. Loki presses him against the wall as it goes down, giving the men a few seconds of time to simply touch each other.

But when it comes to a stop and the door opens up, Loki walks to the bedroom without directions and pushes open the door with a light kick. And, instead of dropping Tony onto the bed like he was expecting, the man spins around so that he's sitting on the edge. His hands slide up to wrap tightly around Tony's back, their chests hard against the others. He leans back slowly, kissing Tony even harder as soon as his back sinks into the bed.

"_Yours is a much better idea,"_ Loki thinks, sucking in on Tony's tongue.

Tony doesn't answer him. He can't, considering that…well…cat's got his tongue.

When Loki lets him go he pushes up onto his knees and shifts around until he's able to kick his shoes off, and then he unlaces the god's boots to pull those off as well. All in all, he's never taken off a pair of shoes more slowly, more carefully. He usually just yanks them off to get the girl out of her damn clothes, but being with Loki is different… Maybe it's because Tony is bottoming. Maybe it's because they're both guys.

"_Or maybe,"_ Loki says into his head, sitting up to pull Tony into one of the slowest kisses he's ever shared, _"it's because you LIKE me."_

Tony gives the lightest of snorts against Loki's lips. "I've never liked anybody before. I don't want to know how it feels. Keep kissing me."

Loki kisses him again, harder now. His lithe fingers slip into Tony's pants to pop the button and slide down the zipper from the inside.

But then something moves in the corner of Tony's eyes, and he spins around in Loki's arms as he all but screams when he realizes that it's another person. But it's only…Loki?"

"_Don't hurt yourself,"_ Loki thinks with a smirk, the clone grinning as it (he?) grips onto the ends of Tony's pant legs and rips them off in one fell swoop.

Tony laughs as the clone drops the pants and disappears. "You know," he says, "We could have some fun with that little talent of yours, I think." He drops his head back onto Loki's shoulder, moaning as the other man reaches around with one hand to slide it into the front of Tony's boxers (it's a good thing he picked out the solid green ones instead of the Captain America ones Coulson bought him a long while back to make fun of him), the other hand reaching up to tweak his nipples into hard nubs.

"_But not today,"_ Loki thinks, licking up and down on Tony's neck. _"I have never been sicker of my clones than I am on this day."_

Tony doesn't answer him. He's too busy biting both his tongue and bottom lip to keep from moaning at Loki's hand around his cock.

"_Remember when you told me you don't like quiet lovers?"_ Loki thinks, the hand on his chest slowly tracing around the outside of his arc reactor (no one's ever really paid attention to that before; anyone who sees it like this is too busy trying to get him inside of them, and Pepper doesn't count).

Tony nods, still holding all of his sound in.

"_Moan for me, Tony. Show me you LIKE it."_

Tony does. Deep and long and loud. And something about it must do something to Loki, because he moans too, grinding up into Tony's ass like he owns it. Which, hey, he might as well.

"_Tell me what you want,"_ Loki whispers into his head. _"Tell me how you want it."_

Tony moans again. "Gods and everything holy," he breathes. "I don't care. I just want you to fuck me like you own me. Make me your bitch just like you did last night."

"_Yeah?"_ Loki breathes into his brain. Real breath washes over his ear and neck, causing the hairs on the back of his neck to stand up. _"Say it again. But don't just SAY it. TELL me what you want. I'm your lover, aren't I? Treat me like one."_

Tony actually pauses, arching his neck up to look into Loki's eyes. "It's only day three."

Loki smiles down at him, kissing him languidly, his hand stroking slowly over Tony's length. _"And this is only the second time. Don't admit anything yet except how badly you want this."_

"Really fucking badly."

Next thing Tony knows, he's on his back with Loki above him in absolutely nothing at all. He drags his fingers down both sides of Tony's boxers, just ripping them through (now Tony's _very_ glad he didn't wear the Captain America ones). They land on the floor with everything else at the same instant that Loki reaches into the bedside table for the lube (because where else does anybody keep it? And it's not like it's just where the average gay man keeps it, because Tony isn't gay. But with all of the women he's been with, he's needed it for even those experiences. So, hey, why not keep it in every room in case he needs it for whatever he comes up with?).

He circles Tony's entrance twice with lube slicked fingers before pushing two fingers in at once, causing Tony to cry out in both pleasure and pain. Loki leans down and covers Tony's moans with a kiss, swirling and scissoring his fingers before adding a third and finally a fourth.

Tony writhes as Loki stares him in the eyes as he slicks himself before pushing in. Tony hisses once before it's turned into a moan, Loki already angling to brush his prostate.

The two men buck in harmony, Tony up and Loki more down. But Suddenly Loki leans down to kiss Tony, and as he does he wraps his arms around Tony and completely rolls over.

The genius billionaire isn't ready for the action, but Loki eases him into it. While the god is now thrusting up, Tony is sitting up to bounce in time with his lovers thrusts.

When Tony comes like that, his entire body is on fire, Loki's hand long ago on his cock. And Loki comes after him, his release washing up into Tony's cavern.

He collapses on top of the god, letting his fingers trace lazily over the features of Loki's face and through his hair.

"And to think," Tony says, resting his head on one of Loki's shoulders, "that that prostate of mine was just going to waist after all these years with women."

Loki breathes a laugh, rolling them onto their sides so he can pull slowly out of Tony with a soft _pop_.

Tony snuggles against him after they've rolled around to have settled underneath the blankets, wrapping his arms around Loki like a teddy bear.

"Hey, Loki?" he whispers, tired as hell.

"_Yeah?"_ Loki thinks.

"Will you sleep with me?"

"_I just did."_

"No, I mean _sleep_. Really sleep."

Loki is silent for a long time, until finally: _"I can try._

Tony snuggles deeper against Loki, pressing a light kiss to whatever skin his mouth is closest to. "Thank you," he says. And he's out cold.

**XxX**

Tony wakes up to an empty bed. He all but panics until he sees the note on the pillow that Loki used. In one of the most elegant, old fashioned scrawls Tony has ever seen:

/

_I'll be in the kitchen when you wake, making dinner. You almost sleep as much as Thor after sex—and I know. We sleep in the same room. Contrary to all of your belief, he actually has quite the life with Jane. She's over often, and it's basically the only time that I ever actually leave his side. When she's over. I hate her.  
Anyway, take your time; I'm going to take forever out here. I'm not using magic because I used up too much of it earlier with the whole clone thing, and I'm not as strong as I wish I was lately.  
—Lo'_

/

Tony smiles, setting the note back on the pillow as he swings out of the bed and pads across the room to the bathroom to perform his morning rituals of a shower and brushing his teeth. And, for Loki's sake, he takes as long as he can getting into a pair of boxers, faded blue jeans, and one of his old t-shirts with the sleeves cut off and a hole where his "piercing" is. And, because he's never worn them before, he pulls on a pair of socks that are a solid bright pink that Pepper bought him a few months back for a gag present (they buy each other random things sometimes, because why not?).

He pads out of the room and around the almost-penthouse to the kitchen, walking into a room that spells like fish and cinnamon.

"_Almost ready,"_ Loki says into his head, spinning past him with a plate of two giant cinnamon rolls. _"I hope you like salmon. It was the only thing I could find that I didn't steal. Oh, nice socks. Wine or beer?"_

"Thanks…Pepper got them for me. And…wine…please…" Tony says slowly, looking incredulously at the kitchen table. It's set to perfection, complete with a white tablecloth and a bouquet of flowers. On each of the two plates there's a piece of salmon, steamed carrots, and now the cinnamon rolls.

Loki looks up at Tony as he goes past him again. _"It's not goin to poison you,"_ he thinks, swinging open the fridge. _"Cold wine,"_ his thoughts mutter as he rolls his eyes. _"I'm not sure how weird you are yet."_

In reply, Tony leans against the wall and says, "You do realize how _weird_ the combination of food here is, do you not?"

Loki gives him a look as he passes with the bottle. _"Do you WANT to eat?"_

He smiles. "If I must."

They both scoot into the table, and Tony automatically lays the cloth napkin over his lap.

"_Tony, please,"_ L thinks, snapping his fingers to cut both his fish and pastry. _"Just because I put out a tablecloth doesn't mean you have to treat it like some fancy restaurant."_

Tony averts his eyes. "Well I thought _you_ were out of magic."

"_I never said I had none left. Just that I was drained. A simple cut up never hurt anyone."_

"Depends what or _who_ you're cutting."

Loki gives another look before snapping his fingers to cut _Tony's_ food. _"Eat or be eaten."_

Tony gives a smug smile. "Am I allowed to choose the latter?"

Loki rolls his eyes, taking a bite of salmon. _"Eat first, be eaten later. Tell me how bad the salmon is. I think I put too much seasoning on."_

Tony indulges him and nearly falls off his chair. "Oh. Oh my. What did you _do_ to it?"

The god frowns. _"I didn't think it was THAT bad."_

"No. No, no, no. It's amazing. Do I taste brown sugar?"

Loki shrugs. _"I have no idea even half of what I put on it. Just whatever I found in the cupboards."_ He reaches over to pour wine into both of the glasses.

Tony shakes his head, incredulous. "Amazing. Never cooked in his life and he throws together the most amazing salmon maybe ever. I hate you."

Loki smirks. _"This was always assumed."_

They eat mostly in silence, though Tony throws in the occasional compliment and Loki won't stop flicking carrot pieces into Tony's lap. Is the God of Mischief coming back…?

When the genius billionaire and god are finished, Tony realizes something.

"You ate," he says, smiling brightly. "Thor said you don't eat."

Loki face turns a bright pink, and the expression in his eyes make Tony's heart fall.

"Oh," he says, setting his fork down. "You're a magician. Of course you didn't eat. What, popping it out of existence as soon as it's in your mouth?"

Loki ducks his head and starts to chew on his thumb. As usual.

"Right, well, thanks for the meal," Tony says, picking up his napkin from his lap and dropping it on his empty plate, "but I've got to be heading back. Steve and Natasha are probably worried sick." Tony stands, making his way back to the bedroom for his shoes.

"_Tony, wait,"_ Loki thinks, and Tony hears the chair scoot back so the god can follow him. _"Don't do this."_

"Do what?" Tony asks, swiping his shoes up from the floor by sitting down on the edge of the bed.

"_Care about me."_

Tony laces up the first shoe. "I don't."

Just as Tony slips his foot into the second shoe, Loki pushes his arms aside and slides forward so that he's straddling Tony's waist.

"Loki, please," Tony says, leaning back from the gods lips. "Not right now."

"_Don't tell a god no,"_ Loki whispers into Tony's mind, reaching up to hold onto Tony's chin as he leans in again.

But Tony turns his face so that Loki just kisses his cheek.

The god sighs, breath washing over Tony's face. "_If it makes you feel any better,"_ he thinks, _"I did actually sleep a bit."_

Tony purses his lips, looking at Loki with just his eyes. "How long?"

"_Well, you were out for about six hours, and I was out for half of that."_

Tony turns his whole head. "Breakfast tomorrow?"

"_No."_

"Lunch?"

"_No."_

"Dinner?"

"_No."_

"Tea-time?"

"_Tony, I'm not going to eat. Stop it."_

"But why _not_? You'll die if you don't. Or pass out, at the very least."

"Have I yet?"

"How long has it been?"

Loki answers almost too fast: "Just two weeks."

"_Just_?! Loki, shit, don't make me force feed you. Why won't you eat?"

He shrugs slowly. _"I just don't want to."_

Tony cocks an eyebrow. "You just. Don't. Want to?"

"_Right."_

Tony forces himself not to punch Loki in the face. "That is the dumbest ass reason I have ever heard in my life! I'm force feeding you breakfast tomorrow morning. No, right now!" Wrapping his arms tightly around Loki, he starts to stand. But Loki shimmers and is gone before Tony can actually get up, appearing at the open door.

"_You can't do anything if you can't catch me."_

Tony smirks. "No disappearing if I give you a three second start?"

"_Deal."_

The instant that Loki sprints out of the room, Tony leaps up after him. Nobody likes to play clean. Thing is, Loki is a god. While Tony is actually a very fast runner, Loki can flip over tables and scale ceilings and walk through walls—not to mention turning into animals that can't be caught.

But he gets him eventually. Well…sort of. As the god dives over a couch like a cat (_like_ a cat, but as a human), Tony manages to reach out and nearly grab his ankle. Instead, though, he grabs onto the bottom of his pants and somehow pulls them off in one fell swoop.

Loki stands up straight, staring at Tony as he stares down at the pants in his hands.

"Well, that was unexpected," Tony says, looking up at the god with a smile.

"_Tony_? Is that _you_?"

Loki looks up and Tony whirls at the voice, staring wide-eyed at a wide-eyed Pepper.

"Oh," he says awkwardly. "Pepper." He shoves the pants behind his back, and Loki almost subtly takes them and puts them on behind the couch. "Lovely seeing you here."

She looks slowly back and forth between him and Loki. "Tony, you are _not_!"

Tony licks his lips. "What? Something wrong with a little game of catch?"

"Tony. Stark. You come over here _right. Now_."

Tony sighs, turning to roll his eyes to Loki before going across the room in one shoe. The one that wasn't tied fell off ages ago.

"Tony, please tell me you're not," she whispers furiously at him.

"Not what?" Tony asks, also in a whisper.

She hits him on the shoulder.

"Okay, okay," Tony says, crossing his arms. "So I am. What of it?"

"Tony! He is still on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s precaution list! He tried to take over the world, throwing you out of a window in _this_ building in the process!"

"But he's different now!" Tony protests. "He doesn't even talk! Or eat. Or sleep. Or—"

"Tony, you're growling. Don't hurt yourself. What, does he turn into a girl for you or some…thing…" She trails off at the look in his eyes. "Oh, _ew_! You do _not_! That is so _gay_, Tony! When did _that_ happen?"

Tony groans, pushing his fingers through his hair. "Last night, okay? Don't be so _loud_ about it."

"Just last night? My word, Tony, you'd think you could have told me by now." She gives Loki a small glance. "What's it like?"

"Pepper!" Tony yells, incredulous.

"_What_?" she yells back. Then, in a quieter voice: "I mean, look at him. Tall, dark, god-like. I mean _really_, Tony. The God of Lies and Mischief? If you're going to be used you may as well gloat about it, and this you most definitely cannot tell a soul about."

Tony groans, dragging his hands down his face. "While I am glad that you share the same secretive views as me, there is just something about women and their finding things out that I'll never like. Yes, Pep, it's great. Having sex with a god is like bathing in gold. Now, why exactly are you here? I haven't caught him yet."

She rolls her eyes, pushing past him. "You'll never catch him." And, to Tony's horror, she walks right over to Loki in her incredible heels and her swaying hips. "Pepper Potts, at your service," she says, holding her hand out to him.

Loki just stares at it, taking a step back and reaching up to chew on this thumb nail.

Tony gets to him as quick as he can, pulling Loki's hand away from his mouth and weaving their fingers together. "It's okay," he says. "Yeah?"

Loki bites onto his bottom lip and nods.

"Yeah, thought so." He looks over at Pepper, who's holding back a smile. "See? Harmless. Anyone afraid of you is nothing to be scared of themselves."

Pepper smirks. "You're scared of me."

"Right, because I totally count in this context.

She rolls her eyes. "Whatever. Get a room. I'm staying here to work on paperwork for _your_ company."

Tony purses his lips. "Oh. Oh yeah. I do have a company, don't I…?" He shrugs, throwing his arms around Loki's waist. "I would much rather get a room." He looks up at the god. "Loki, my room at the mansion, if you please."

Loki gives a ghost of a smile, and Tony smiles and waves at Pepper as they shimmer away, and only too late does Tony realize he doesn't have his other shoe. But instead of the bedroom, they appear in the basement, both of Tony's shoes somehow on.

"_Rogers is looking for you,"_ Loki thinks before Tony can protest. _"I thought it best if he found you here."_

Tony sighs. "Yeah, you're right…how about that mute action?"

Loki nods.

It only takes fifteen minutes for Steve to find him (why he didn't come here first is beyond Tony), along with Natasha and Thor.

"Just give us a sec, fella's," Tony calls to them. "We're in the middle of our blueprints."

Loki reaches across him to point at some of the materials he has. _"Could that go by the—"_ he thinks, but Tony cuts him off:

"No, no, I know what you're going to say. That would make it too big."

"_Oh, obviously. How big do you want it again?"_

"Nothing too elaborate. I just need something I can carry around that will override all of his systems."

"_Can't you just make it as an action, then? I mean, instead of the button and entire device. Something where you can tell him to mute and he does."_

"No, no, he'll be able to override it that way."

"_Tony, he's all but your greatest creation. He's going to override anything after a time."_

Tony sighs, pressing the heels of his hands against his eyes. "You're right. Of course you're right. Damn. I guess forget the handheld, then?"

"_Right,"_ Loki thinks, snatching the pencil from Tony to start drawing again.

"Hear that, Jay?" Tony says, shoving his hands into his back pockets. "I hope you're _happy_."

"Actually, sir," Jarvis says, "I haven't a clue what you're talking about."

Tony freezes for a second before turning to face the others, who all look just as surprised and confused as he feared.

"Hey, Loki?" he whispers.

"_Yes?"_ Loki thinks without looking.

"I'm the only one who can hear you, aren't I?"

Loki looks at him. And then, to Tony's ultimate surprise, he laughs. Out loud._ "Yes,"_ he thinks, pushing his fingers through his hair before going back to drawing. _"Good luck getting out of this one."_

Tony rolls his eyes before looking back at the others. "Well hey," he says, leaning against the desk so that Loki has to draw around him slightly. "How's the day been for you guys?"

"Tony, where have you _been_?" Steve asks, somewhat frantically.

Tony sighs, and Loki pats him on the shoulder. _"Welcome to Desperate House-Husbands,"_ he thinks.

"Oh, come off it," Tony snorts, pushing his hand away. Then, to the others, "Just at my tower. Pepper will vouch for that."

"Doing _what_?" Steve asks, crossing his arms.

"Good lord," Tony scoffs. "I took a nap and Loki made dinner. If you ever need a fish cooked, he's your guy."

Loki laughs into Tony's head and reaches over to muss up his hair.

"My word, Lo'," he says, pushing the hands away (also seeing the appalled look on Steve's face at the nickname; guess he should have thought that one through a bit more). "I'm not a child."

"_Not a child?"_ Loki thinks, looking down at him. _"You wish. Around me, you're nothing but."_

"What? How old are you?"

"_Oh, I don't know, I lost track after my two-thousandth birthday."_

Tony's jaw drops. "You're shitting me!"

But, before Loki can answer, Thor is there and crushing him in a hug. "Oh, happy days, Tony Stark! My brother has—"

Loki literally spins around and grabs Thor's lips between two fingers. And, in reply, the big guy sets Tony down.

Turning his fingers into a cigarette end after he lets go, Loki proceeds to write in absolute gibberish (now Tony wishes he took ancient Norse instead of Spanish in high school). And Thor answers out loud in the same language.

The two brothers have a huge argument about who knows what, complete with Thor growling like a lion and Loki hissing like both a snake and a cat at random intervals. And then, when they're finally done and the coals are burnt away, they both turn to Tony, Thor with a smile and Loki with his usual poker face.

"You have my blessing, Tony Stark," the blonde says brightly.

Tony blinks at him. "Excuse me?"

But Thor just pats him on the head and walks past him.

"What is he talking about?" he asks Loki.

"_I'll tell you later,"_ Loki thinks, flitting his hand at Tony.

So Tony sighs and turns back to Steve. "Um. Anymore questions?"

Steve simply turns around and follows Thor into the elevator.

Tony sighs again and looks at Natasha. "Does he know, too?"

"No," she says, shaking her head. "He just feels…replaced."

"Damn. Should I go talk to him?"

"No, no, wait till morning. Let him cool off first. I get a workout just watching him when he's angry and putting holes in punching bags before they fly off their hangers."

Tony nod sadly. Steve is his best friend, after all. "Now what?"

Loki's arms suddenly wrap around Tony from behind. _"That bedroom of yours?"_ he thinks.

Tony smiles up at him. "I like your thinking."

And with a final wave to a slightly sick looking Natasha, Tony and Loki shimmer away.


	4. Day 4

**Day 4**

Tony wakes up feeling generally sore over his entire body. And alone. What, Loki's making breakfast again? There's no note this time, and the shower isn't running. Did he go back to the room he shares with Thor? Tony doesn't see why he would. Point break obviously knows all about their sleeping together. What else would the blessing be for?

He sighs, swinging out of the bed, the clocking reading ten in the morning. Too early. He'll take a shower _after_ he finds Loki (curse his protective nature), so he pulls on his Captain America boxers, a pair of sweats, and an old t-shirt. But he'll brush his teeth now, because his breath tastes absolutely terrib—

"Oh shit!" he yells. Loki is sprawled out across the floor, a thin trail of blood dried on the corner of his mouth and a small cut on his forehead from where he must have bonked his head on the sink when he tumbled. And he's blue. Not the normal pale, alabaster that he usually is. His skin as a dark, frosty blue with grey-blue designs on his skin, and it's damn _strange_, but Tony knows what it is. He knows about the Jotun Frost Giants from myths and from Thor; this is just the first time he's ever thought about truly seeing it. And, if possible, Loki is almost more beautiful in this form than the one he covers himself in with magic. He must have _really_ hit his head for the disguise to have gone away like this.

"Loki! Loki, are you okay? Speak to me, dammit!" He drops to the floor, feeling Loki's pulse (beating rapidly and alive) and pushing up an eyelid to blood red eyes to check for pigment (which obviously isn't there). He's cold as hell, but almost instantly the blue begins to melt away. And ten seconds after the touch, his skin is back to the alabaster color again, and Tony checks his eyes again to see green emeralds.

"Loki, fuck, you're scaring me!" he says, patting the god's cheek lightly. "Wake up, _please_!"

But Loki doesn't move. In fact, it doesn't even look like he's breathing. In fact…he's not.

"Jarvis, get Natasha and call an ambulance!"

"Already done, sir."

Tony runs back into the bedroom and snatches Loki's pants up, running back in to gently pull them on before anybody shows up. He doesn't give a damn if anybody more finds out about their fucking—he just wants Loki to have some decent privacy.

Then Natasha bursts in, the hospital workers at her side with a stretcher.

"Tony!" she yells. "What happened?"

"I don't know," Tony says calmly. He's good at stuff like this, being calm during times of stress. It's practically his job. "I woke up to find him like this."

Loki is carried out quickly on the stretcher, Tony and Natasha right behind them.

"Stark!" an angry voice booms after them. "What is the meaning of this?!"

Tony barely gives Thor a glance before Natasha pats him on the shoulder to tell him that she'll explain. The three Avengers are joined by both Bruce and Clint by the time they're outside and Loki is being loaded into the ambulance.

"Only one of you can come in the truck with us," one of the workers says.

It hurts, but Tony turns to Thor and says, "You go. He's your brother."

"Thank you, Tony Stark," Thor says beyond gratefully as he squeezes into the back of the truck.

And right as they pull away, a big three row/two front seater van pulls up, the window down with Steve in the driver's seat.

"Anyone going to the hospital," he says, "get in the van."

Everyone crams into the van, Tony up with Steve, Natasha and Bruce in the next row back, and Clint behind them but scooted forward so that his arms are hanging over the seat a centimeter from Natasha's arm. They don't touch in public unless they're training.

It's a ten minute drive to the hospital from the Avengers Mansion, and the first three minutes are dead silent. But Steve finally breaks it:

"Tony, what's going on?"

Tony keeps staring out of the window, his legs refusing to stop shaking. "I don't know," he whispers. "He was on the bathroom floor with blood on his mouth and forehead."

"But he was on _your_ bathroom floor. Why?"

Tony's mind is like lightning. "He likes my shower better."

"They're the exact same."

"Have you ever _seen_ my shower? No. They're different. I've completely upgraded mine."

"Fine. Why was he in the lab with you?"

"He's very useful."

"How so?"

"He's brilliant and has the ability to put something together with the snap of his fingers as long as he's seen the blueprints and all of the materials needed are out."

"You trust him?"

"I let him use my shower and cook me dinner last night. That's a yes."

"But _why_?"

"Cap," Natasha says quietly. "No more questions. Let him breathe."

"There's no time for breathing! As soon as this dam—" He cuts off with a sharp breath, which almost (but not really) makes Tony laugh. Steve always was one for keeping his language clean as a whistle. "Darn trickster showed up I've been losing my best friend. I'm not okay with it, _alright_? Tony, _why do you trust him_?"

But at that moment they pull up to the hospital, and Tony is out before he answers. The others exit quickly to follow him in, and before Tony hurts himself scanning for Loki, Natasha grabs his elbow and pulls him over to the service counter. The lady nearly falls off her chair when she sees them all.

"We're here for a patient admitted a few minutes ago," Natasha says sternly. "Loki Laufeyson, the man who, a year ago, nearly destroyed the city completely."

The woman clicks away on her computer, and a few moments later she looks up sadly at them. "I'm sorry, but he's not permitted visitors right—"

Clint is suddenly at the counter. "Ma'am, do you _want_ to make enemies out of us? Because saying no will not make your life easier. The room number and floor, _now_."

She swallows. "Floor three, room three-hundred and seventeen."

He nods. "Thank you."

The team of five continues through the building, deciding to take the stairs instead of the elevator. Seventeen doors down, Thor is sitting in a hallway chair with his head in his hands.

"Point break," Tony says, sitting down beside the blonde. There are four chairs, but Bruce is the only one who sits, a seat between him and Thor. "What is it, what's wrong?"

Thor looks up slowly, straight ahead at door three-hundred and seventeen, tears on his cheeks. "They have not told me anything as of yet, Tony Stark. He has not been in there long enough for a proper dig—dignosick."

"Diagnostic," Tony says quietly.

"Thank you. Even though I have not been spoken to, though, I know that my brother is dying. He has not been well for many days now, even weeks. His lack of nourishment and rest has been killing him for the past two months."

Tony frowns. "Two months? He told me it's only been two weeks since he hasn't eaten."

Thor finally looks down at him. "Then he has lied to you, Stark. But do not fret, I know of his promise to you. He did it only to protect you. He likes you."

Tony groans, dropping his head into his hands. "Yeah," he whispers. "I figured."

Nobody says anything for the next forty-five minutes—not even Steve with his questions. Natasha and Clint just leans against the wall, Steve paces, and the other three sit with heads in hands. Tony's not sure why anyone is staying with him and Thor, though. Apart from maybe Natasha, none of them actually like the guy.

But then a nurse finally comes out.

"My, my," she says, eyes wide at the six outside of the room. "'Tis unexpected. Mister…" She looks at the demigod. "Thor?"

Thor stands, towering over her. "What is his condition?" he asks sternly.

She gives him a sad look. "Yer brother is very weak, sir. De' overview of da' food and sleep he has been gettin' tells us he should 'ave died by now. He moss likely won' make it true da' night."

A huge tear rolls down Thor's cheek, Tony drops his head in his hands again from when he looked up at the nurse, Natasha closes her eyes, and Bruce wrings his hands. Steve and Clint, on the other hand, don't change at all.

"He is a sleepin'," the nurse continues, "but you may go in an' see him now, if you'da like. But I do suggest only two of yeh go in ah' once. All of you ah' once may…'urt him more."

Natasha opens her eyes. "Tony, Thor, the rest of us will be back at the mansion. Page us if you need anything."

Tony and the blonde nod, and the god follows the woman inside. Tony, though, first turns to Steve.

Steve towers over him too. Damn, is it just him? Is he the one that's short, not everyone else being tall? He definitely doesn't hang out with the right people. "Tony, I still don't—"

"Will you come by later?" Tony asks.

"I don't see why I should."

"Then don't."

Steve sighs, uncrossing his arms. "You piss me off, you know that?"

"Yeah, all too well." Almost naturally, Tony throws his arms around Steve's waist in a hug. "Just come by later, okay? I'd say I'll explain everything, but I probably won't. Just come and say hi or something, okay?"

Steve, his arms around Tony's shoulders, sighs again. "Fine. I hate you."

"I got that."

They separate, and Tony turns around to jog into the hospital room.

Loki looks dead already. His skin is like paper in contrast to the sickly green hospital gown, though around his eyes are a dark purple. He looks thinner than even when Tony found him on the bathroom floor, and there are an assortment of tubes sticking out of his body.

Tony turns to a second nurse. "Can't you do _anything_ for him? Feed him through a tube or _something_?"

She gives the same sad look as the other nurse. "We could, but it wouldn't do any good. The amount he needs to survive just through the day would be rejected by his body, and his regurgitating it would only make things worse."

"He's a god, dammit!" (Everybody knows about different worlds and superpowers and unknown gods, now. It's not a secret after the war in New York.) "He doesn't need it all at once! Just give him what he _won't_ puke back up!"

"Sir, I don't think—"

"_Sir_? I am Tony fuc—"

"Stark, calm down," Thor growls before turning to the nurse and saying, "Women, do as the Man of Iron commands. I am Thor, Son of Odin, and I will not take lightly to your allowing my brother to simply _die_."

So it happens. The nurse informs the necessary people to get the small amount of food Loki's body won't reject into his system, Tony and Thor pressed up against the wall. And when it's all been settled down for a few painful hours, Thor is snoring on the floor with his arm as a pillow and Tony has pulled a chair up to the side of the bed to rest his arms beside Loki and his head in his arms.

"Don't die, Lo'," he whispers, lightly stroking the other man's arm. He can fit his hand around the thickest part, up near his shoulder. Tony doesn't remember him being this thin even during sex last night. "I don't want you to die."

Loki doesn't answer. Obviously.

"For Thor, for your brother," he says, closing his eyes. "For me, too. That'd be…nice…" He falls asleep just as Steve walks in.

**XxX**

Tony wakes up to a feather light touch against his cheek.

"Ugh, Steve," Tony says, swatting the touch away. "I don't _want_ to go to a meeting."

But the touch doesn't stop.

"Dammit, Steve, if you don't back off I'm going to—"

"_Tony."_

It's just a whisper. A whisper inside of his head that makes Tony sit straight up so fast he almost falls out of his chair.

"Loki!" he says, looking down at the god. His eyes are hardly slits, his breathing is but a rasp (especially with the tube down his throat; they must have just fed him, or are about to be), and his fingers are stroking Tony's cheeks lighter than air.

"You didn't die!" Tony says, grabbing Loki's hand as lightly as he can. "Oh gods and everything holy, I can't remember _ever_ crying, but you had me close. They're feeding you through that tube down your throat, just a smidge at a time. You're going to live, okay? Right?"

"_I don't know,"_ Loki whispers into Tony's head. _"I hope so. I want to. It's not day eight yet."_

Tony stares at him, letting those words sink in. "You knew you were dying. That was your plan. When you got back to Asgard…you know they don't have the technology there to make you eat."

Loki closes his eyes. _"Correct."_

"You're trying to kill yourself? Why?!"

"_Have you ever been suicidal, Tony?"_

"Once or twice."

"_Not like I. You have always had power, even when captured. But I am all but nothing now. You've seen what I am. I don't talk, I don't sleep, I don't… No. It's not that I don't. I CAN'T. It hurts to sleep because of the nightmares I have about things that have never happened, and before I didn't eat unless I was about to pass out because I was just simply never hungry. But then…"_ He sighs into Tony's head, but his body doesn't change at all. His body still looks dead, or at the very least out cold. _"I didn't care anymore. Have you ever not cared, Tony? Not about anything?"_

Tony licks his lips. "No. At the very least, I've cared about living."

"_Well I don't. For the last three months I simply haven't cared. I didn't even want to die the first month. I just laid in my bed without sleeping and nearly without thinking. Thor all but had a panic attack every morning that he saw me. I already didn't talk before then because I knew nobody wanted to hear or talk to me anyway, and Thor didn't count. He never has. But the point is, as soon as the second month began, I decided that it wasn't even worth it anymore. I didn't feel like just lying there anymore._

"_My own magic can't hurt me, so I knew that option was out. I knew Thor wouldn't allow a weapon around me long enough to do any real damage to myself, and while I could have asked anyone one Asgard's streets to kill me I couldn't because none of them are even ABLE to kill a demigod. So I simply stopped eating altogether. Thor couldn't make me eat, and smart as he is, he obviously had and still doesn't have any idea what I'm really doing. He just thinks I don't care. Which I don't but for two things. My death is one of them, because I'm downright sick of living. No matter where I go, I'm Loki, God of Mischief and Mistakes. The world had it coming, and so did my brother. Do you have any idea how I was raised? I was but a SHADOW when it comes to him—and if you make a joke about him being twice my size and my always following him around I will kill you as soon as I recover."_

Tony doesn't know what to say. Loki is his suicidal lover that Tony wants to do whatever he can to save. But he doesn't know how. The god is so set on dying that Tony has no idea how to change his mind. But he did say there were _two_ things…and he only told Tony one of those things…

"But you _will_ recover," Tony says instead.

"_Did I say that?"_

"No, but you certainly thought it. You said you would kill me when you recover."

"_If you make a joke."_

"Which I didn't."

"_Which means I won't have to recover to do the job."_

"Loki, please," Tony whispers, squeezing a tad harder against Loki's hand. "You can't die."

Loki's eyes open to slits again. _"Can't I?"_

"No. No you can't. I won't let you. They're feeding you through the tube, dammit, and you're not strong enough to make it disappear. So suck it up and _survive_. Please, Loki, for Thor. Hell, for Natasha, even! Your bother won't know what to do without you, and Natasha needs someone to pull favors from."

Loki closes his eyes again. _"Natasha, huh?"_

Just then, the door opens up to the first nurse walking into the room. "Eve'nin, Mr. Stark," she says with a nod and a smile. "Slept a mighty long time, you did. Straight th'rew lunch, and it's nearly time fer suppa! Shall I be callin' yer lit'le Avenger friends, or would you like a tube as well?"

Tony blinks at her as she goes through the necessary steps to pull the tube out of Loki's throat. So they did already feed him. Why did they keep the tube in?

"No thank you," Tony says quietly. "I'm not hungry. Could you bring a tray for Thor, though?" Tony looks over at the sleeping blonde. He doesn't care what Loki says, there's no way he sleeps as long as the great beast. "I can pay whatever fees we rack up at the end."

"A 'course, Mr. Stark," she says, putting everything aside and readjusting Loki's blanket. When was that put on? In fact, there's one around Tony's shoulders, too. And one that barely fits over Thor. Did the nurse do it?

As soon as the door shuts the door behind her when she leaves the room, Tony stands up from his chair and presses his lips as softly as he can to Loki's. The god kisses him back, but barely.

"And me," Tony whispers, pushing the fingers of his free hand (the one not holding onto Loki's) through the taller mans hair. "Me especially. Maybe not more than Thor, but still."

Loki's eyes are open when Tony opens his. _"Why do you care?"_ he whispers into Tony's mind.

Tony gives a small, quiet, almost forced laugh. "You know what, I don't think I even know. It must be your…" He flits his hand, smiling down at Loki. "Hair. No wait, it's your eyes. You have amazing eyes."

Loki doesn't smile, but Tony knows he would if he could. _"I'll ask you again on day seven."_

Tony's heart leaps. "Really? You'll still be here?"

"_Yes. I'll still be here. Just for you. And Thor. And…Widow."_

Tony kisses him again, not quite as soft but just as slow. He doesn't want to hurt the man, but it's so hard not to. He just wants to—

A knock sounds on the door.

Tony pulls away in a flash, slamming his ass back down in his chair and pulling his blanket tighter around his shoulders. "Come in?" he calls, and Loki closes his eyes just as the door opens to reveal Steve and Natasha.

"Well hello," Tony says, crossing his arms over his chest with a smile. "What brings you two here?"

"Food for the demigod," Steve says darkly, holding up a tray of food covered in assorted hospital foods. "How long has he been out?"

Tony's actually confused. "Which one?"

"Thor."

"Oh, oh, of course. I have no idea. A few hours longer than me. You came in like I asked, didn't you? Right when I fell asleep? But you're angrier than when we last spoke... What happened?"

"Nothing happened," Natasha says, taking the tray from Steve and setting it on the second chair in the room that Thor would be in if he wasn't on the floor.

"Steve?" Tony asks.

Steve shakes his head. "Nothing."

"Steve, buddy, you're killing me. I haven't lied to you, have I? Just haven't talked much. Come on, what happened? Did I confess my undying love for Jarvis in my sleep? I forgot to tell you about my bad case of ASFR."

Steve cocks an eyebrow as he closes the door and leans against the wall. "What?"

"Yeah, never mind. Just tell me what happened."

Steve crosses his arms with_out_ a smile. "I don't see why I should tell you anything."

"Oh, come now. Big man in a leather jacket, take that away and what are you? A hurt little puppy? Don't make me get up and give you another hug to calm you down. I'm not going to apologize for anything. Are you going to tell me anything or are we going to have to negotiate a peace treaty like we did four months ago? Remember that fight we got into when I wasn't in my suit and I was in the hospital for a week and you were only in for a few hours because I broke your arm?"

Steve narrows his eye and huffs. "You fell asleep at his side, Stark."

Tony gasps. "Did you just call me by my last name? You haven't done that in weeks! That's very rude of you. You're my best friend, after all. Oh, and just out of curiosity, did you notice that I was holding onto his arm as well? It was a nice touch to your nerves, I'm sure."

"Dammit, Tony, this isn't a joke!" Steve yells, and even at the minor curse word Tony knows Steve is pissed. "I don't give a damn _what_ you were holding on to! I just want to be _told_ by you. I don't want to be in the dark. We _are_ in fact best friends, but these last few days you've been whispering things to Natasha and talking…talking _somehow_ to the God if Mischief that practically makes you seem like boyfriends or whatever! Is that what this is? Another of your…whatever you call them…sleepovers with strangers?"

Tony stares directly into his best friends clear blue eyes. "He threw me out of a window. He's not a stranger."

Steve pushes off the wall and flings the door open. "Fine, if that's the way you want it, that's the way it will be. Keep everything to yourself. See if I care." And he stomps out.

"Well," Tony says, mostly to himself. "That last comment was _meant_ to just lay out all my cards. So much for that."

"Steve is right," Natasha says quietly. "This is changing you." She walks over to the door. "But you are happier lately, you know? Annoying as hell, but happy. Page us if you need anything." She starts to follow the super soldier out, but Tony stops her.

"Nat, wait."

She turns around, giving the sigh she always gives him. It actually makes Tony feel kind of guilty. "I think it's my turn to patrol outside. But…I mean…could you get someone to…you know…"

She smiles lightly. "I'll get Clint to do it. It was supposed to be his night before you changed it up on us anyway." And then she's gone, closing the door quietly behind her.

"Well, that could have gone better," Tony mutters, dropping his head to the bed.

"_Don't worry,"_ Loki thinks, ghosting his fingers over Tony's cheek again. _"Only three more days and the rest of today until I go home."_

"Yeah," Tony says, averting his eyes over to Thor. "Real awesome."

The next two hours consist of Thor waking up to eat and then going instantly back to sleep, Loki getting fed once more through the tube, and Tony arguing with about three nurses to take out all of the other weird tubes and letting him eat by himself. He wins, of course. He's Tony Stark, Iron Man. How could he _lose_?

Around midnight, Tony is tired again. There's just something about convincing someone not to keep killing themselves, arguing with your best friend, and yelling at nurses about how powerful you are and a few things about gods, too, that drains a person.

"_You're not going to stay the night here, are you?"_ Loki thinks, fingers stroking down Tony's nose. Stronger, now, and his eyes are open all the way. One day and he's already getting stronger. Damn gods.

"What else would I do?" Tony asks, reaching up to hold Loki's hand to his cheek.

"_Go back to the mansion. Sleep in your bed. Eat your own meals. I don't want you turning into me by accident."_

"It's been one day. I'm not going to die. I can go one day without the things you've deprived yourself of for two months."

Loki sighs out loud. _"About that. Did Thor, um, tell you before I got around to it?"_

"You lied to me. You said you wouldn't do that anymore."

"_No, I promised that I wouldn't lie or hurt you unless it meant your protection. I lied to your to protect you. Your emotions."_

"I could have saved you sooner."

"_Oh come now, you know I wouldn't have let you."_

"Look, forget it. You're going to survive now, and that's all I care about. I don't really know why, but I want you to survive, dammit."

Loki smiles. _"Fine, you're not leaving, I get it. At least sleep on the floor with Thor. Sitting up can't possible be good for you back."_

Tony nods. "Hey, I know. I'll bring you home tomorrow. You're strong enough to be off all those tubes, and your being a god means you'll heal faster. You'll be well in no time!

Loki snorts. _"Good luck. They're NOT going to let me go."_

Tony stands, smiling brightly. "Oh, they will. And if they don't listen to me, I'll bring in Clint. He's very persuasive."

Loki cocks an eyebrow. _"Would he do that? He sort of wants me dead, after all."_

Tony shrugs. "If I can't get him to do it I'll talk to Natasha, but I think it'll be fine.

"_Oh good."_

Tony tucks Loki in before leaning down to kiss him again, pouring his passion in as softly as he can.

"Sleep well," he says, going over to bunker down beside Thor.

"I will," Loki says. _"You too."_

"Tony Stark not sleep well on a tile floor with a man twice his size breathing in his ear? Preposterous."

Loki rolls onto his side so that he's facing Tony. _"Thank you."_

"Anytime. I'm Iron Man, after all. Saving lives is my job."

Loki bites on his thumb nail and drops his eyes. _"I was under the impression I wasn't just a job."_

"Hey, hey, don't make me come up there. You know you're not. A job gets breaks. I haven't even gone to the bathroom today."

Loki looks back up at him, a faint smile on his lips. _"Goodnight, Tone."_

Tony smiles back, pillowing an arm under his head after pulling his blanket better over him. "Night, 'Lo'."


	5. Day 5

**Day 5**

Tony wakes up twice as sore as yesterday. And Loki isn't in the bed.

He sits up too fast, looking frantically around the room for—

He stops. Loki is there on the floor with him and Thor, his brothers huge arms wrapped tightly around him. He's still asleep, breathing softly, but Thor is actually awake.

"And how was the queen's beauty sleep?" Tony asks, stretching his arms. Lordy, what he wouldn't give for a shower… He can still smell his and Loki's after-sex on himself. Barely, but it's there.

Thor smiles. "Good morning, Stark," he says quietly. "Did you sleep well?"

"Well, for sleeping on a tile floor, it wasn't too bad. How long have you been awake?"

"I am unaware as to the time, but I believe it has been over just one hour."

"Do you know when…" He trails off as Loki stirs, stretching in Thor's arms. His back arches and his fingers curl and his legs push against Tony's. And then he curls even deeper into Thor, his legs pulling up into a ball and his face burying into Thor's chest.

"Wow," Tony says with a smile. "He really is a cat."

Thor gives a soft laugh. "It is as I said, my friend. But in any case, what is it that you were saying?"

"Oh, yeah. Do you know when he got down here?"

"Oh yes, he woke me to move me aside. Apparently we had moved in our sleep and you were all but in my brother's current position."

Tony snorts. "Well," he says, pulling his blanket off and fluffing it over Loki and Thor. "Let's just hope nobody got any pictures. If Loki wakes up, tell him I'll be right back with some food for us all and going to the bathroom."

Tony stands and stretches before heading out to the restroom, and then he asks around for the cafeteria. The patients get a kick out of Tony Stark walking around, but he just ignores them as he fills up a single tray enough to feed all of him and the two brothers. Funny how Loki refuses to refer to Odin as his father, yet he still calls Thor his brother… Whatever the reason, he doesn't want to know. It will probably be some long drawn out thing that he won't even understand.

When he comes back to the room, Loki is awake and still on the floor with Thor, the nurse Tony's cussed at most telling him all about how he's going to catch his death down there and to get back up on the bed right this instant and Mr. Odinson how could you possibly think it okay to bring him out of the room without our permission I don't care if he needed to use the restroom he needed to be at least in a wheelchair. And then Thor protests a bit but she cuts him off with no excuses and blah, blah, blah.

"He's fine on the floor," Tony says calmly.

The nurse whirls with narrowed eyes. "Don't you dare yell at me again, Mr. Stark. One more of your overprotective outbursts and I'm calling the police. You're lucky none of us did before. No, he is not okay on the floor, and I don't care what you say about it. If _you_ don't get him back on the bed, _I_ will."

Tony rolls his eyes and sets the tray on the would-be-Thor's-chair, the other tray gone (who knows who took it).

"It's me or her," Tony says, holding his hand out to Loki. "Take your pick. We can't ignore _all_ the rules."

Loki bites onto his bottom lip and takes Tony's hand, allowing the shorter man to slowly pull him up and even slower over to the bed. Loki can barely walk.

"Hey," Tony whispers, brushing his fingers over Loki's forehead once he's settled into the bed. "Your scrape is gone. I thought that was going to scab over."

"_It would have if I were human,"_ Loki thinks, pressing his face against Tony's touch.

Tony smiles warmly at him, feeling Thor come up beside him at the same time. "Well, it looks like your big brother wants a word. So, you think you'll be ready to head home by noon?"

Loki nods. _"Don't let that food over there go to waste."_

Tony turns to the big blonde. "Hey, point break, that's for you guys, too, remember," he says, pointing at the tray.

Thor swoops over and grabs the tray before coming back to the side of the bed, sitting down in the chair Tony left there. "Here," he says, peeling a banana. "This small amount of nutrient will suffice for now. Take it slow, brother. I do not want you to regurgitate like the other Norse warned."

Words appear beside Loki and Thor without any help from Loki's fingers. _IT'S _NURSE_, THOR_, the words say as Loki take's the banana with a smile—not at the food, no, but simply at his brother. In fact, he gives the yellow fruit a murderous glance before looking back up at his brother. _THAT'S WHAT _WE_ ARE. NORSE. BUT THE WOMEN HERE ARE_ NURSES_._

Tony steps away from the bed and cracks his knuckles, eyeing the nurse outside of the room window as she talks to Natasha and Clint. How convenient. He swings open and steps out of the door, waiting for them to be done with their conversation about suicidal care treatment.

"Mr. Stark?" the nurse says stiffly. "May I help you?"

"Yes, I just wanted to inform you that I'll be checking Loki out at noon today." Never ask if you can. Just tell them how it's gonna be.

Surprisingly, the nurse keeps her cool. "You're not allowed to do that, sir."

"I'm sorry, but last I heard this is a free country. I'm going to bring him home, and if you have a problem with that you can keep talking to me and my friends here."

"Sir, you're not allowed to just walk in here like you own the place. There are rules that we must follow to keep people alive. He is not ready to go home yet."

"Oh, no, of course he's not. Not yet. But he'll be ready by noon. He's a _god_, ma'am. He doesn't need even half of the time it takes a regular, mortal, human being to recover. I don't see why you're arguing with this."

"No, sir, I believe that it's the other way around, and I am sick of your attitude. I am calling the police."

"Um, excuse me," Clint says, putting a hand on Tony's shoulder. "We _are_ the police. Not all of it, but definitely the most _powerful_ branch."

The nurse's eyes narrow.

"It's true," Natasha says, putting her hands on her hips. "We are Agents Natasha Romanov and Clint Barton, also known as Black Widow and Hawkeye. We are master assassins of the Avengers Initiative, and I know you don't want to tangle with us. So if you will _please_ inform whoever you need to that Loki Laufeyson will be checking out at noon today, that would be _most_ helpful. And if you still don't believe us, I'll call into work for you and you can talk to our director. It's your choice how this is going to go down, but it's not going to just stop here."

A dark and angry, but compliant, look passes over the nurse's face as she stomps off, muttering about how she doesn't get paid enough for this.

Tony smiles at the assassins as they smile at each other.

"That wasn't half bad," Clint says, leaning against the wall with his elbows. "Real fearsome. I didn't even think about stepping in to back you up."

"Yeah?" she says, dropping one hand from a hip. "I guess I did learn something from all of those authority lessons you gave me."

"Um, yeah, thanks and all…" Tony says, backing up, "But I'm gonna go. Don't do anything out in the open like this. You guys are a secret, remember?"

They both turn with narrowed eyes to Tony at the same time, so he gives a guilty smile and all but dives back into the room.

"_Phew_," he says, wiping his brow as he goes to stand by Thor, snagging an apple from the tray. "You guys hear all that?"

They both nod, mouths full.

"What are you eating?" Tony asks them.

Thor holds up a small and almost plucked clean bunch of grapes and Loki holds up a banana peel.

"Damn, Lo', you're still on that? You sure are a slow eater. What, did you forget how?"

Loki rolls his eyes. _"Don't push my buttons, Tone,"_ he thinks.

Tony smile at him. "Yeah, about those cute boyfriend nicknames…"

Loki stares at him, blinking slowly. _"I suppose that's what they are, if that's what WE are."_

Even though Loki's mouth is full and his older, gigantic, overprotective brother is right next to them, Tony leans over and kisses Loki full on the mouth.

Loki giggles like a girl, swatting him away with both hands as he makes sure the food stays in his mouth. When he swallows, he sticks his tongue out at the shorter man.

Tony is about to lean over and kiss him again, but Thor speaks first: "Tony Stark, though I do greatly appreciate the happiness you have given my brother, I would appreciate even more if you saved such activities for when I am not looking."

Tony rolls his eyes. "Of course, Thor. Anything for a god." Going around to the other side of the bed from Thor to lean down and whisper into Loki's ear: "Hey, do you know what the nurses said when they changed your clothes about the dried come on your stomach and thighs?"

Thor, thank heavens, doesn't hear him, but Loki bursts into loud, real laughter. _"I wish I knew, but I didn't wake up until the morning you swatted at me because you thought I was Steve."_

Tony gives him a guilty look. "I can explain that. Before you showed up on day one he would come in nearly every morning to make sure I was awake for a meeting or for breakfast or anything else. He woke me up to go see you guys when you showed up, too, but I took my sweet time. He's my best friend, you know?"

Loki's eyes dart to the door, to Thor, and then back to Tony as words appear above him: _BUT YOU'RE MAD AT EACH OTHER? HOW CAN HE BE YOUR BEST FRIEND IF YOU'RE MAD AT EACH OTHER?_

Tony's not sure why he suddenly changed his way of communication, but he goes with it. Maybe he wants Thor to know he's not just some heartless bastard? Whatever. "Oh, we argue more than anybody. Even more than I argue with Pepper, and you saw that firsthand. I think best friends are supposed to argue, you know? Because when we argue, it's not like we're actually mad at each other. We're just hurt, because usually the only reason we argue is because we're keeping something from the other, or because I'm being an asshole and he can't figure out what's wrong because it's simply something in my past that I don't like talking about. I've told him the story time and time again, you know, of how I had to have this stupid thing inside of me to save my life, but he still thinks I'm leaving something out. I've never been able to convince him that I'm not."

_ARE YOU?_

"No, I'm not. That's mostly what I argue with him about. He thinks I'm lying all the time because I'm so damn sarcastic about everything, but I actually hardly lie at all." He smiles. "Well, at least to him, and then compared to you, our local God of Lies and Mischief."

Loki smiles at him as the words burn away. _"You're going to hate me,"_ he thinks, _"but turn around."_

Tony knows exactly what has just happened the instant he hears the words in his head. He turns to see Steve standing in the open doorway, a faint smile on his lips. And when he turns back to Loki, the god is looking at the tray of food and biting on his thumb nail.

"That's why you looked away for a second," Tony says. "And you looked at Thor so he would stay quiet as well. And that's why you started putting words into the air. Oh, you mischievous little—"

"Oh, lay off the man, Tony," Steve says behind him.

Tony sighs, rolling his eyes. "I do suppose it was for the best," he says, pushing his fingers through Loki's hair. "But I still hate you."

Loki looks over at him, dropping his nail from his mouth, a cute little smirk on his lips. _"I know."_

Tony stands up and goes over to Steve, taking the larger man's elbow and pulling him out of the room, the door closing behind them as they sit in the chairs across from it. "I'm still not saying anything about it now," Tony says, "but I'm taking Loki home at noon today. After we all get settled in, I'm calling a meeting. I'll explain everything to everyone. I'm sick of secrets."

In reply, Steve hugs him so tight that he can't breathe. "I'm sorry for just always assuming that you're lying through your teeth," he says, loosening his grip just enough that Tony _can_ breathe. "And I'm sorry for stomping out on you yesterday. You're just doing what you do best, being Tony Stark, the…" He takes a deep breath. "The asshole."

Tony laughs, hugging Steve tightly back, though he knows Steve can breathe just fine. "I knew I'd corrupt you some day."

"And that's the last time you'll ever do it."

"Thank you, Steve, for coming back."

"Hey, you think I can actually stay mad at you?" He holds the genius billionaire at arm's length. "You _are_ my best friend, after all."

Tony grins at him. "Think you can tell all the others about the meeting?"

"It will be my pleasure. Do you want us all here when you leave, too?"

"Well, you don't _all_ need to be here. You and Natasha, I guess. Because Clint doesn't like crowds and Bruce likes them even less, so it's probably best they just stay home until we get there. Can you get a limo for us, and maybe a thin line of security so we're not completely mobbed when we leave? Because people always know about stuff like this, even when it's hardly left our mouths."

"Yeah, I can do all of that. Will Loki be in a wheelchair?"

"Yeah, he'll have to be. He'll probably be able to walk okay by the time noon comes along, but its standard hospital procedure. We've broke enough rules; I don't want them to refuse to have us back."

"Can hospitals do that?"

"Probably not, but I really am an asshole. They'll do everything in their power to make sure we never get hurt again."

Steve laughs until tears roll down his cheeks. Tony didn't think it was even sort of that funny, but Steve's face is just one of those faces that Tony can't help but laugh along with

**XxX**

When noon rolls around, Loki is in a wheelchair with his knees pulled up to his chest, a blanket over his legs, and a cup of black coffee from Starbucks that Steve grabbed when he also went back to the mansion to grab Loki some real clothes. He had to scrounge a bit and ended up with the smallest pair of his own old jeans (not from before he was a super soldier; all of that stuff is gone, and Loki is too tall for it anyway), one of Tony's t-shirts and hooded sweatshirts, and a pair of Clint's boots (and now both Tony and Steve owe the bird a _lot_).

And now Tony is pushing Loki in the wheelchair down the hallway, flanked by Steve and Thor, Natasha behind them, and a small band of security guards to calm the throng of reporters and random civilians outside.

"You ready for this?" Tony asks, stopping in front of the double glass doors.

Loki nods, chugging back the last of his coffee before handing the cup to Thor to throw away in the trashcan a few yards away. _"Ready as I'll ever be,"_ he thinks.

"Right. I'm going to have to answer some questions, remember."

Loki nods again.

So Tony pushes forward, Steve moving to the front. The questions start instantly, the noise overwhelming. Not to Tony, though. He's used to this stuff. When Loki is finally safe in the limo, Thor and Natasha go in with him while Steve stays out with Tony. They stay out long enough to answer just three questions, ignoring all of the ones that require a lie for an answer. So really, there's only three he _can_ answer. Steve got to answer one too, but it was just about how he felt about Loki being around, to which he simply shrugged.

"Well that was fun," Tony breathes as the limo pulls away.

Loki scoots up beside him (not touching, but close), knees still pulled up and blanket still over his legs. _"What did they ask?"_ he thinks.

"I just answered three," Tony says, addressing the whole car. "One asked me why we're housing the man who tried to destroy us all, and I said because you're not out to kill people anymore and because your brother is here as well. Another asked what punishment you got when you got back to Asgard, and I just said I don't know, because I don't. And the third question I answered was someone who wanted to know why you were even _in_ the hospital, and I quick told them you simply passed out before jumping into the limo. They can't do much with that now, can they? No."

Loki nods, pulling his thumb up to chew on his nail. He's shaking, so slightly that it doesn't even seem to be noticed by Thor, who actually notices things a lot better than most people Tony knows—_especially_ when it comes to things about his little brother.

Tony wants to pull the magician closer, but he can't with Steve in the car. He knows he's about to go tell everyone everything, but he doesn't want to scare Steve before that. He could—

Loki coughs, cutting Tony's thoughts off. And he starts to shake just a little bit harder, and he squeezes his eyes shut tight.

"Fuck it," Tony mutters.

Loki looks up at him, green eyes shimmering like wet emeralds with unshed tears.

"Come here," Tony breathes, holding his arms open.

Loki literally falls into him, hands gripping onto Tony's shirt (Steve grabbed him new clothes, too; this is the same shirt he had on when the war was going on…his Black Sabbath one) and his face burying into his chest. His legs pull up closer to his chest and he's shaking even more as tears spill over his cheeks and soak Tony's top.

"It's okay," Tony whispers, adjusting the blanket over the taller man before throwing one arm over him and letting the other reach to rest over Loki's hands. "It's okay," he says again, pressing a soft kiss to the top of Loki's head. "We're going home. Well…sort of. But either way. We'll be away from people and tubes and bad food and all that jazz. You're still alive and I'm right here and I'm not letting you go, okay?"

Loki grips tighter to Tony's shirt, breathing ragged as he tries to calm himself down. _"Day five, Tony,"_ he thinks. _"Two and a half more days to go."_

"And you'll be alive all those days, and even more than that if I get my way."

"_I don't know. I just don't know."_

"That's okay, that's fine. Just keeping breathing, in and out. For Natasha, remember?"

Loki nods, and Tony lets him keep crying against him, not looking up to meet anyone's gaze.

At least, not until someone speaks to him: "For me?" Natasha asks quietly, questioning.

"Inside joke," Tony says, looking up at her with a light smile.

And with the silence broken, the limo fills with words. Loki stops crying and just keeps breathing, Thor has a polite conversation with Natasha, and Tony and Steve talk about old pranks they used to pull to get Clint mad at them, or the things they would make to try and cheer Bruce up on some of his bad days. But Steve doesn't question anything about Tony's arm around Loki or anything that it implies. And they all make their way into the mansion without a single reporter around (granted, it's private property, but that doesn't seem to stop all that many people). And Loki tells Tony's mind that he wants to be at the meeting too, and since they're all there they just make their way straight to the conference room to begin.

Tony is at the head of the table, Loki is at his right, followed by Thor, and spaced out randomly at the table but in an order are Natasha, Bruce, and Steve. And Clint is up in his perch, of course, seeing that the room is tall enough for one.

"You know," Tony says to Loki as everyone is quieting down. "We never did finish that mute action."

Loki gives him the smallest of smiles. _"We still have a couple of days, don't we?"_ he thinks.

Tony nods, looking up at the small crowd of five before him (because Loki doesn't count). He wishes Coulson was here…he liked him. A lot. And Loki was the one who—

He cuts himself off, shaking his head back and forth. He can't think about that. Not right now, not ever. Take it like a solider; take it like Steve. Phil's just another man down.

"Sooo," Tony says, pulling off his sunglasses. He forgets that he's wearing them sometimes. "Thanks for coming, I guess. What else do you guys have to do, right? Well, except you, Natasha. You always have something to do. Sorry." He coughs. "Anyway! To all of you here, how many of you know exactly what this meeting is about?"

Every single person raises a hand.

"Oh," Tony says with an awkward frown. He looks up at Clint. "How did you find out?"

"Um…" Clint ducks into his nest and out of sight.

"Okay then," Tony says awkwardly, looking over at Bruce. "What about you?"

"My hearing is better than you think," he says, hands folded in his lap.

Tony chuckles, knowing that Bruce means he heard everything he was whispering to Natasha after Red Robin two days ago. "I'll keep that in mind. Steve, what about you? Put together my thing about his not being a stranger?"

Steve nods. "Natasha helped a bit. She assumed it was alright to tell me since you tried to yourself."

Tony nods, turning to Natasha. "Yeah, it's all cool. I'm assuming you told Clint, too?"

She gives the same laugh-sigh she gives Bruce. Tony nearly drops to his knees and praises the lord. "That's a long story," she says, crossing her arms.

"That's fine," Tony says, holding a hand up. "Whatever it is, I never want to know. I forgive everything that happened. So, Clint, would you please come back out here? I won't let Jarvis shoot at you, I promise."

"_Letting_ me is not the problem," Jarvis says politely. "But you are safe."

Clint peeks out over the edge of his nest, a smile on his lips. "Oh good."

"Well then," Tony says, folding his hands. "That was fun. I guess this means we don't have to worry about hiding in public, now. Well, public being defined as inside the mansion walls… Anyone up for some shawarma?"

Bruce raises his hand. "Can I ask something?"

"I don't know," Tony says, leaning back. "Can you?"

Steve swats his shoulder (right on his left), making Tony laugh. "Sorry, Bruce. Go ahead."

Bruce gives a half-frown. "Now what?"

Tony purses his lips. "Haven't gotten that far yet. Give me till day seven for an answer, yeah?"

And they disperse, just like that. No more questions, no homophobic comments. Clint swings down from his perch and asks if anyone wants to go watch a movie, and everyone goes but Natasha ("Gotta break the news to Fury, too, don't we?"), and Tony and Loki go back to Tony's bedroom for a well deserved nap.

"_Tony,"_ Loki whispers into his head.

Tony smiles at the taller man. He's resting his head over his heart and a hand over his arc reactor, fingers splayed out. "Yes?" he says, pushing his fingers through his lover's hair. No, _boyfriend's_ hair.

"_Are we really going to take a nap?"_

Tony chuckles. "You're still a bit too weak for that, I think. We'll have Jarvis wake us for dinner and then come back, yeah?"

Loki smiles up at him before snuggling deeper against the genius billionaire. _"I like that idea. What should we have?"_

"Would you kill me if I took you out?"

"_What about your thing with the public being defined as behind the mansion walls?"_

"Lordy, Lo', we're not going to make out on the streets or anything. Well, we might be, but that's not the point. The point is dinner. I can't cook, I don't feel like fish tonight, and nobody else is going to cook for us. They're all probably just going to be watching movies tonight and… Oh. Oh my. Jarvis, what's the schedule for the patrols?"

"Agent Barton has outside duty tonight, and you are meant to be patrolling the walls of the mansion."

"Oh good," Tony says, wrapping his arms tighter around Loki. "Nothing to stop us from going out, then." He looks down at the dark haired, green-eyed, pale as all hell beauty in his arms. "Any restaurant preferences?"

"_None,"_ Loki thinks.

"Jarvis, darling," Tony begins sweetly, looking up at Jarvis's sensors. "I don't really have a preference either. Just set something up where we won't be mobbed."

Jarvis is silent for a moment, no doubt working out the kinks already. "Of course, sir," he says eventually. "What time would you prefer?"

"Well, it won't take us that long to get ready since we won't be covered in after-sex. So wake us at seven, set the reservation for seven-forty-five."

"I'm on it, sir. What shall your name be?"

"Oh, just tell them that it's two for Tony Stark so they make it perfect. But make sure they think we're just friends, because if they make it something romantic things could get a bit awkward."

"Of course, sir."

"Thank you, Jarvis. Oh, and by the way, I've decided against that mute action."

"Thank you, sir, but it wouldn't have mattered. I have already designed a virus for it that I'll keep filed away for when you decide to pull the project out again."

Tony chuckles. "Goodnight, Jay."

"_For me, too!"_ Loki thinks.

"Loki says goodnight, too."

Jarvis turns the lights off with a light chuckle. "Goodnight, sirs."

**XxX**

Jarvis wakes the couple up with the forties music Tony so hates, but Loki just hums happily along. Tony dressed up in his usual neatly shaved, smell-good suit look, letting Loki have the bathroom to get ready on his own. When he finally comes out, Tony stares dumbly. He looks really good. Obviously.

"Isn't that what you were wearing in Germany?" he asks.

Loki smirks. _"I didn't think you saw it,"_ he thinks.

"Yeah, I saw you on the scanners. Where did you, uh…how much magic did you use?"

"_I'll be fine. Just…come hold me."_

Tony crosses the room and wraps an arm around Loki's waist, setting his other hand on the side of the taller man's waist closest to him.

"Tired?" he asks, steering them both towards the door.

"_It was just bringing the suit in,"_ Loki says, opening the door. _"I'll be fine."_

"You're sure? Because if you're going to pass out again…"

"_No. Come now, my body is coming back to life. I'm hungry."_

On the way down to the garage, Tony pulls out his pager. "Widow, you there? It's I-Man."

"Yeah, I read," she answers. "What is it? Trouble in your burrow?"

Tony rolls his eyes at her nickname for his bedroom. He's not a _rabbit_. "No, all is well. I just wanted somebody to know that I'm heading out to dinner with our local God of Mischief over here."

"Sure he's ready for that, pretty boy?"

"Positive. Tell the Captain New York and those forty-nine other, lesser states for me, yeah?"

"Of course. And Thor?"

"Uh…" He looks up at Loki, who nods. "Sure, have fun."

"You too, Stark."

"Of course." He hooks his pager onto his belt as they go into the garage, nothing inside but four of Tony's expensive cars. "I love fast driving," he says with a bright smile. "Which one do you want?"

"_Whichever one I'll have the most room to breathe in,"_ he thinks. _"Hard to believe as it may be, I actually have slightly claustrophobic tendencies…"_

Tony smiles. "No, it's not that hard to believe. I mean, I'm going out to dinner with you, aren't I? That's pretty stinkin' hard to believe."

Loki smiles back. _"True."_

Tony sighs happily, clasping his hands together. "Let's see, the most space… Yes, that one. My favorite one. Lovely. Jarvis, program our destination into the GPS, if you please."

"Already done, sir."

And they're off, Tony with his sunglasses even in the darkness of night and Loki with his arm hanging out of the open window from the elbow down. When they arrive, Jarvis informs them that he has requested no reporters or anything of the like.

"Can you walk in on your own?" Tony asks his boyfriend. Lordy, it's still just weird to say or think or anything. Tony doesn't _like_ people, let alone tie himself down enough to actually consider himself in a relationship. What is this, the fifth day? Wow.

Loki holds up an intricate looking cane that Tony didn't see before. _"It's just a replica of the one I had in Germany when I had the big ass __Tesseract__ staff. I miss it; it was just so much fun. I mean, hey, I could disintegrate people with it. You have to admit that's pretty cool."_

Tony cocks an eyebrow. "Yeah, the technology and everything is pretty cool. I have to admit that, being the scientist that I am. Jarvis, is anyone looking?"

"My scanners indicate that no one is around, sir."

Tony and Loki lean over to each other at the same time, mouths mashing together in a tangle of lips and teeth and tongues.

"_Mmm, mmm, mmm,"_ Loki says, pulling away as Tony starts to kiss to his neck. _"Not before dinner, love. We're in public, after all. Hard on's and hickies can wait."_

Tony groans but listens to the man, the groan being replaced almost instantly with a chuckle. "You know, it is amazing how different you and your brother are. I mean, aside from physical appearance, you blend in with modern earth society perfectly. Thor, though, not so much."

Loki shrugs, obviously not wanting to talk about it right now. So both of them get out and make their way into the restaurant. And just like Tony wanted, nobody gives a damn who they are. It's too expensive/fancy a place for people to really care.

"_I would complain about your spending money on me,"_ Loki thinks, _"but I really don't care. Not to mention I know that you have nothing or no one better to spend it on anyway. Maybe Pepper."_

Tony smirks at him. "I'd argue if you weren't right."

They're greeted by a young, perfect employee, who takes their reservation name and whisks them away to their table with gusto. "May I get you fine gentlemen started on something to drink?" he asks in a deep, sure voice.

"Chteau Marqaux for me, please," Tony says, smiling up at him. He's been to this place so many times he knows the menu like the back of his hand. But then he turns to Loki, who wrinkles his forehead up before thinking a single word: _"Water."_

Tony looks back up at the man—boy, practically. His name tag reads ORLANDO. "And he'll just stick with water for the night."

The waiter nods politely before walking off.

Tony looks back over at Loki, an eyebrow cocked. "_Water_?" he asks. "Really?"

Loki smiles shyly, looking down at his menu. _"So sue me,"_ he thinks in a sickly sweet voice. _"What should I get?"_

"You're asking me? Our taste is completely different if you're getting _water_."

"_That's liquids, Tony. Besides, we both like come, don't we?"_

"Women can come too, you know."

"_But it's different."_

"And you know?"

"_Not personally. Don't you read?"_

"I—what, read? You read erotic—"

"_Yes, yes, I have, alright? I've nearly read every single book in the Asgardian library, and some of those just happened to be in there. I think they belonged to a friend of Thor's and he was just trying to hide them, but I found them all and read them a couple of times over. There were some homoerotic ones, too, you know. How else would I know what to do around YOU?"_

Tony shrugs. "Common sense?"

Loki shakes his head, a soft laugh coming out of his mouth. "_You amaze me, Tony. I simply cannot comprehend you."_

"Oh, come on. Even Steve would be able to figure it out."

"_With some help, maybe."_

Tony smiles at him, fluffing his napkin over his lap. "Maybe with some help, yes," he repeats. "What do you _think_ you want? Are you feeling vegetarian for the night, or carnivorous?"

"_Meat and carbs,"_ Loki thinks, flipping the page of his menu.

"Steak and potatoes?"

"_Hmm…I suppose so. I don't really have a preference. Whatever you feel like buying for me."_

"Well that's what I'm getting, so we might as well just get the same thing. I can just tell our waiter what I want, and then say we want two."

Loki closes his menu with a smile. _"How convenient for you. We could…"_ He trails off, looking directly over Tony's shoulder for about five seconds.

Tony doesn't move, because he knows what kind of look that is. He knows that he's looking at somebody who's looking right back. And suddenly, randomly, Loki begins to mouth things without really saying anything at all.

"_Just go with it,"_ he thinks, his lips saying something completely different. _"Somebody is watching us. I don't detect any danger, but they probably just think it's weird that you're having a complete conversation without my saying anything."_

Tony nods, taking a sip from the water glasses that come with the table. "Tonight should be fun, then."

And it is. Tony orders them the same thing, and after a while Loki thinks to him that the woman who was watching them has lost interest. And somehow Loki eats all of his food (not that there was tons, but it's a lot for someone who's stomach has shrunk) without a single sign of puking it back up. Tony asked him about it, but he just shrugged and said something about his being a god. But Tony knows that he really has eaten. He watched him swallow, and Loki said he would anyway. He trusts him.

And when they're finally done eating and Tony has paid the check (plus a healthy tip, because Orlando really was an excellent waiter) without hardly giving it a second glance (he's paid much larger checks before, and Loki's right that he has nobody else to spend it on anyway), they drive off laughing about some dumb joke about aliens and plants that Tony told him from an old childhood game he used to play, and Loki is genuinely laughing because Tony's changed him so much, and Tony can't help but love himself for it because how many other people have tried and failed so miserably? And of course Loki was reading his mind and he told him that nearly ever influential person in Asgard as tried, and he just hid behind Thor until they left.

And Loki says that he feels great when they get back to the mansion, and Tony can't help but kiss him just outside of the garage door, because who can help but kiss their own boyfriend?

"Um, Tony?"

Tony sighs, pulling away from Loki to see good ole' Clint and Loki's big brother Thor.

"Howdy," he says, dropping his arms from Loki's neck. "Is something wrong?"

"It's Natasha," Clint says quietly. "We don't know where she is."

Tony frowns, turning to face them completely. "What? We always know where Natasha is. She always tells us where she's going and when she'll be back. Did you try her pager?"

"All of us, even Bruce. Even Fury."

"Did you tell Jarvis to try her?"

Clint snorts. "I'm the best here with AI's, and I'm sitting over here using arrows for weapons. We have no idea how to even talk to the robot."

Tony looks over at Jarvis's censors with an eye roll. "Literally all you have to do is talk out loud, guys. Jay, does Natasha still wear that tracker I got her?"

"The one she wears as an earring through the top of her left ear?" Jarvis asks.

"Right."

"Yes, as far as I am aware."

"Well, get a track on it. And while you're at it, try and call her. I'll page her now."

"Right away, sir."

Tony pulls his pager off his hip and looks up at Loki. "You know anything?"

Loki gives a completely innocent and believable shrug. Tony believes him. He knows Thor believes him. He just hopes Clint believes him too.

"Widow," he says into the pager, "you read? It's I-Man."

Tony waits ten seconds, but nothing comes.

"Natasha? Are you there? It's Stark. Don't you dare ignore me. I don't care what you're doing, this is urgent."

Still nothing.

"Nat, come on. You know I don't interrupt anything unless it's truly important. Please, answer me. Clint is all but dying without you here."

And there's still nothing, and that's when Tony knows she's not going to answer at all.

He sighs, putting his pager back on his hip. "Jarvis?"

"No answer to the call, sir. Her tracker, on the other hand, indicates that she's in her private bedroom."

"There," Tony says, giving Clint a pat on the back. "Case closed. She's probably just asleep. Don't hurt yourself, guys."

Thor gives a heavy sigh. "This does not seem right, Tony Stark. We have already checked her quarters, and she was not present. She could not have appeared there in such short time."

"Thor, buddy, she's a master assassin. A spy. A fighter. She can do whatever she wants. And hey, if she's not there, she's probably just out partying or with some guy on an assignment Fury sent her off on and just won't tell us about."

Clint's face falls.

"Oh, don't hurt yourself, little lovebird," Tony says, patting him on the back again. "You know it means nothing to her. Whoever he is will be dead before morning. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some things to do." He takes Loki's hand in his, and making sure he doesn't make eye contact with Thor, leads them both past the two concerned men.

The instant that the elevator doors close, Loki has him pinned to the wall, cane holding one wrist to the wall and his other wrist with his other hand. _"Don't think too hard,"_ he whispers, rutting lightly against Tony's thigh. _"But I have an idea for the night."_

"Yeah?" Tony breathes, gripping tightly onto Loki's hips through his suit. "What kind of idea?"

"_A sex idea."_

"I was hoping it would have to do with that."

They kiss all the way to the bedroom, separating just long enough for Tony to enter in the key code (which he never did change after Natasha got in the other day). They throw themselves onto the bed, Tony's hands gripping tightly to Loki's hips to hold him in place as they grind into each other. He delves his tongue into Loki's mouth, the taller man welcoming Tony's dominance, releasing a soft moan as Tony skates his tongue across his own. Loki's hands work like lightning until all the shirts Tony is wearing are open so that he can get to his chest, his hands tracing the outline of Tony's abs and gripping onto his pecs like breasts. He rubs his fingers over the nipples, spinning circles until Tony can feel them straining to pop against his skin.

He pulls his mouth away from Loki's and trails hot kisses down his chin and neck, burying his face in the crook of his neck to lash out his tongue and teeth at the skin.

"_Want to hear my idea?"_ Loki asks breathlessly into Tony's mind, pushing all of Tony's shirts off completely and tossing them to land on the floor.

"Oh yes," Tony mutters against his skin. "Tell me."

"_You've noticed that I'm letting you call the shots, right?"_

"Of course," Tony says, hands working swiftly to get Loki out of his own suit.

"_Keep doing it. All night."_

Tony pulls away so that he can look into Loki's green eyes. "You want me to top?"

Loki nods, pushing both of them up into a sitting position, Tony straddling him so he can shrug off everything above his waist so that it lands with all of Tony's clothes. _"I want you to fuck me,"_ he whispers into Tony's mind, pressing a kiss to the middle Tony's arc reactor. _"All. Night. Long."_

Tony moans, pushing Loki back down to start kissing him again. Loki's submits completely, breath coming ragged as they arch into each other.

"Dammit," Tony whispers, rolling off of Loki. "I need us both naked _now_."

As he shoves off his shoes and pants and everything else, Loki sits up and does the same, both men all but leaping back at each other as soon as they're free of any fabric-like restrictions. Tony grabs onto Loki's hips, his fingers digging hard into Loki's skin, and pushes down against him. They both let out a mix of gasps and moans at the connection, and then Tony leans down to kiss Loki hard on the lips. Tony's hand snakes down and takes a hold of Loki's cock, hot and hard in his hand.

Loki moans into his mouth, his hands faltering on their grip around Tony's neck. His hands drop from completely a second later and tangle into the sheets as Tony rubs him with his hand, smearing precum around the head and the rest of the length. And Loki's kissing goes to about zero, so Tony pulls away to just watch the gods face.

Loki's teeth move to bite onto his bottom lip to keep from moaning, but Tony won't have anything of that.

He leans down to his lovers ear and breathes, "Don't hold back on me now, Lo'. I want you to moan for me."

Loki's teeth let go of his lip and he lets out a long, hard moan.

Smiling, Tony' releases his hand—causing Loki to release an unhappy whimper—and crawls backwards down him, stopping when he's between the thinner man's legs. Looking Loki straight in the eyes, he leans down and takes him whole into my mouth without any more of a warning, swirling his tongue around his head and through his slit, secreting hot precum into his mouth.

It's barely a moment later when Loki is begging Tony to fuck him; to leave his cock alone for just a minute and stick Tony's inside of him, because he needs him and he wants this and just because he's letting Tony call the shots doesn't mean he gets to torture him. It's all being begged inside of his head, of course, but that doesn't change the fact that it's totally hot.

So Tony grabs the lube from the nightstand and slicks his fingers before swirling slowly twice around the entrance. When Loki growls at him, he sticks two fingers in at once, receiving a hiss of pleasure in return. Tony swirls and scissors his fingers inside of the cavern, adding up to four fingers until he's sure that Loki is ready for him. Then he leans up and coats himself, looking up to see Loki watching his cock in an almost mesmerized fashion.

"Ready?" he asks huskily.

Loki nods, tilting his ass up to Tony. He wipes the excess lube on the blanket beside them and then grabs a hold of Loki's hips, tilting him up even more to meet him. His cock all but positions itself, tingling at the thought of finally entering Loki's cavern. He pushes in slow at first, but the more Loki moans in pleasure, the harder and faster he goes.

It's the most beautiful thing in the world. It's so hot and so tight and so _hot_ and Tony just can't get enough of it and he never wants to ever do anything else for the rest of his life and—

Loki releases a pleasured gasp, and Tony knows what he's found. He angles himself more so that he hits it every time that he pumps inside of him, and Loki rewards Tony by going completely incoherent as he pulls the sheets around them into tight fists, and by closing his eyes and tilting his neck up in completely ecstasy, and by moaning Tony's name over and over and over again until his own name is the only word he'll ever know.

Tony leans down and presses his mouth to Loki's neck, biting and sucking and kissing all over anywhere that his mouth can reach.

And then Loki is there, screaming Tony's name like it's his drug. One look away from his neck and down to his spurting cock pushes Tony over as well, and he moans incoherently as he pumps himself one last, hard time into his boyfriend, emptying the contents of his balls inside of him. Loki finishes before him, but as soon as he's done he collapses on top of him, burying his face into Loki's neck.

"_Oh gods,"_ Loki breathes into Tony's mind, wrapping his legs slowly around Tony's waist and his arms around his neck. _"Don't you dare pull out of me. Stay like this. Stay."_

Tony just nods because his vocal cords aren't working yet, his arms digging underneath Loki's back to wrap tightly around him. "You're so beautiful," he finally gets out. "I can't even comprehend it. And you're _mine_."

"_All yours,"_ Loki says breathlessly into his head. _"Gods yes, all yours."_

Tony kisses his neck lightly, rolling them onto their sides, Loki's arms reaching out to pull the blankets over them both.

"_I want you to stay inside of me as long as you can,"_ he thinks.

Tony nods, reaching down to lightly stroke Loki's cock. "You're already getting hard again."

"_I know. So are you. But no more tonight, love. I'm so tired."_

Tony understands completely, so he lets go of Loki's cock and goes back to wrapping his arms tight around the thinner man. "And you will sleep, right?" he asks.

"_As long as I can,"_ Loki thinks, pressing a light kiss to Tony's shoulder. _"Sleep well."_

"I will," Tony whispers as Loki cuddles closer to him. "You too, yeah?"

"_Of course."_

"Goodnight, Loki."

"_Goodnight, Tony."_

"Goodnight, sirs."

Both men look over at the robots censors, glaring as Jarvis snickers to himself.

"Goodnight, Jarvis," Tony says out loud, and Loki thinks it even though the robot can't actually hear him.

And then they sleep.


	6. Day 6

**Day 6**

Beginning chapter A/N's: So I bring in the whole Amora/Skurge group here, because hey, what's a FrostIron fic without a little magic rivalry? Either way, basically the only thing I have truly accurate about the two is their outfits. 'Cause I totally make up my own personalities and background for them, not to mention giving Amora a few more powers than she probably really has. Because I don't exactly know her or Skurge's story at all. I should probably read up on that, yeah? Whatever :P

* * *

Just like the good old days, Tony is shaken lightly awake by none other than his good friend Steve. Loki is still wrapped in his arms, slowly waking up from however many hours of sleep he got. His cock slipped out of Loki's cavern during the night, but they're still naked and they still smell like amazing sex.

"Steve, honestly," Tony says, swatting his hand away. "It was bad enough when I slept _alone_."

"Tony, it's one in the afternoon," Steve mutters, pushing at him again. "You've slept the entire day away. Loki already ditched you for breakfast at ten before going back to sleep. You are a _blob_. Also, Fury is looking for you, and Natasha never actually told him about you two, so I don't want him to find you like this."

Tony sighs, letting go of his now fully awakened bed partner to roll over and glare at Steve. "Fine, I'm getting up, but I'm—oh good lord, forget it. Just get out of my room. Right now. I'm not going to get out of bed with you still here."

"You always did before," Steve mutters, turning around to go to the door.

"Oh, shut up, you know its different now."

Steve shrugs, pulling open the door. "If you say so." And he's gone.

Tony sighs, flopping back down onto the bed.

Loki leans over him, his fingers tracing paths over Tony's chest. _"HE'S your best friend?"_ he thinks into Tony's mind.

"What, you have somebody better in mind?"

"_I rather like Widow, actually."_

Tony snorts, throwing the covers off of them both. "Yeah right. We hate each other."

Loki laughs. _"Sure you do. You two are perfect for each other."_

"Hardly. Are you going to shower with me?"

"_Of course. I did in fact go down for breakfast today, and even Thor wrinkled his nose up at the state of me. I didn't think anything of it until everybody said something."_

"So what you're saying is, if Clint starts making sex jokes, I can blame you?"

"_Precisely."_

They take their time in the shower, soaping each other down and kissing languidly under the water and Tony even gets a blow job in. Loki must have appreciated his dominance so much last that he let Tony have him in such a way again; this time, though, Tony actually finishes until Loki comes down his throat. It being his first blow job he wasn't able to swallow all of it, but Loki didn't care, so whatever.

"You know," Tony says as they dry each other off, "there's something I should probably tell you about when I found you passed out on my bathroom floor."

"_Mmm?"_ Loki thinks. "And what is that? Took advantage of me before calling the hospital, did you?"

Tony chuckles. "No, I was panicking too much. It was just…well…you were too weak to use your magic, right?"

Loki stops, looking up at Tony from where he is on the ground drying his legs as Tony gets his hair. _"Right…"_

"Yeah, well, you know how your skin is actually blue?"

Loki stands up so fast he almost knocks Tony backwards, breathe coming fast. _"You saw me in my true form?"_ he whispers into Tony's mind, hands covering his mouth, towel dropped at Tony's feet.

"Well, yeah," Tony says awkwardly. "I couldn't save your life with my eyes closed."

"_Did anybody else see?"_

"What? No, as soon as I touched you your skin went back to alabaster. Why? What happens if they do?"

He shakes his head, squeezing his eyes shut. _"I DESPISE my Jotun form. I hate all Frost Giants. I hate myself for what I truly am. I'm okay with talking about it, but when people SEE what I am…"_ He opens his eyes, tears threatening to spill over. _"It's so ugly."_

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Tony says, dropping the towel in his own hands and stepping over to Loki. "There's nothing wrong with that form at all. I mean, hey, Megamind over here, you know? Well, you probably don't know who that is…never mind. What I'm trying to say is, your Frost Giant form is totally okay with me. You were still the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. And I'm the only one who saw it, yeah? It's just me. Just Tony. Well…and Jarvis. But he doesn't count."

Loki nods, dropping his hands from his mouth. _"Right, yeah, just you. Thor hasn't even seen me in that form, you know… You're the only one. Odin saw, but he saw me as a baby as well."_

"Really? Not Thor?"

"_No. He's asked before, but I refused. Tony, I…"_ He trails off, looking down.

"Yeah?" Tony says tilting his chin up. "What?"

"_You weren't just trying to make me feel better, where you? When you told me I was still beautiful in my true form."_

In response, Tony pushes up on his tiptoes to kiss him softly on the mouth. "Can't you read my mind?"

"_I just…wanted to hear it from your own mouth."_

"Then no. No, I wasn't just trying to make you feel better. I mean I was, but I meant it. You're beautiful no matter what."

Loki smiles, throwing his arms around Tony's waist and kissing him back hard.

When they finally make it down to the living room, Loki in the all black outfit he's worn so often and Tony is in holey jeans and an old t-shirt with a hole over his arc reactor (it just feels better when the device can breathe…Tony's not sure why he feels that way about it, but he's just glad he's never been all that self-conscious of the whole thing), and they're both laughing about a story that Loki told about a prank he used to pull on Thor all the time. But they quickly cut themselves off when they see that the living room is filled with all of Steve, Thor, Clint, Bruce, Fury, and some other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents that Tony doesn't know.

"Oh," he says, noticing with a frown that Natasha isn't there. "Steve didn't say you guys were _waiting_ for us."

"Natasha is still missing," Clint says quietly.

Tony looks over at Fury. "So you really didn't know where she was?"

Fury shakes his head gruffly. "I may not tell you everything, Stark, but I do not lie about my knowledge of where some of my best agents have disappeared off to. I may not tell you where, but I will tell you that I know where they are."

Tony sighs, taking Loki's hand and going over to sit at empty spots on the couch between Clint and Thor. "Oh, by the way," he says to Fury as Loki leans against him, "I'm dating our old enemy now. Just a heads up."

Fury rolls his eye. "Not worth it, Stark. We're here right now simply because we must find our agent."

Clint smiles, and Tony leans over so he'll tell him why.

"He said _our_ agent," the bird whispers into Tony's ear. "Not _his_."

And Tony can't help but smile as well as he leans back over to Loki.

"Alright," Steve says, crossing an ankle over his knee. "We've all paged her today, Tony, but we want you to try as well again, it being the next morning and whatnot."

Tony nods. "Right, well, my pager is back in my room. Jarvis, can you open a direct line?"

"Of course, sir," Jarvis says.

"Okay, nobody talk."

The room goes silent, and Jarvis says, "Go ahead, sir."

Tony takes a deep breath. "Widow, you read? It's I-Man."

Ten seconds go by, and nothing."

"Natasha, dammit, answer me. Answer your good friend Tony _before_ he has an aneurism."

Silence.

Tony sighs, pushing his fingers through his hair.

"_Oh last time, Tony,"_ Loki says into his head.

Tony nods. "Nat, don't make us come looking for you. Even your favorite one-eyed director is here. Wherever you are, give us _something_."

Nobody speaks. Nobody moves. Nobody even breathes.

And then, by some small miracle, there's a reply:

"Hello? _Hello_? By the magic in my bones, what _is_ this infernal contraption?"

That's not Natasha's voice. Nobody has any clue who it is at all. Except Loki, because he leaps up faster than a bullet, a feral growl ripping from his throat.

"Ooh!" the voice says. It's a female. "Skurge, darling, come look at this!"

"What is it, mistress?" an ugly voice replies.

"Look, look, it talks!"

The walls of the living room—maybe even the whole mansion—are suddenly shaking, and Loki's eyes glow acid green.

"Oh," the woman says quietly. "_Oh_," she says louder. "Oh Skurge, it's _him_! Lovely little Loki! _Finally_! It's been so long, dearest Laufeyson, I was beginning to think you had forgotten about me! It's so lovely speaking to you again." She giggles, or cackles, or something of a mixture between the two. "Where are you, dearest? Tell me, tell me! I _must_ see you in person since you've stopped chasing me after all these years. It's been so _boring_ without your constant _threats_."

The walls shake again, and suddenly there's a bright green flash in the middle of them all. And there stands a woman with long blonde hair with a green mask covering only the hairline around her face. Her top is also green, sleeveless, and somewhat frilled at the bottom. And her bottoms are somewhat leggings, black with green rings down the front of her legs and morphing into high heeled shoes at her feet. There are also green metal arm covers from her wrists to the middle of her upper arms, and her nails are painted green and sharp as claws.

She looks at Loki with a bright smile, but without warning, Loki punches her hard in the face. She flies into the wall behind her with a painful yelp, and then Loki is at her again, holding her neck hard against the now somewhat smashed wall. There's nothing new about that. Somebody is always in a fight and knocking down the walls around here. It's a miracle it hasn't happened already with the visit of the gods.

She chuckles. "Ohh, I missed you too," she says with only a smidge of difficulty.

Loki growls at her, and Tony knows that he's talking to her with his mind.

"Still not speaking, are you? How boring. Of course I don't know where she is."

Loki crushes her deeper into the wall, and her eyes bug slightly.

"Alright, al_right_!" she hisses. "I have her! But you'll never find me, Jotun scum. I am the _Enchantress_."

And she's gone.

Loki punches a hole in the wall where her face had been before turning to Thor, who instantly jumps up and speaks to him in the same foreign tongue as before, causing Fury to roll his eyes.

They hold a long and somewhat annoying conversation that way, Loki with his coals and Thor attempting to keep his voice down, neither of them in English. Finally, everyone in the room about to burst at the seams at the tension, Thor turns to Fury with crossed arms.

"When Loki and I were younger, we used to sneak off to play with other children of the kingdom we were not supposed to," he begins. "There was one particular group of two that Loki especially enjoyed seeking out; very dangerous, but we did not heed the Allfather's warning. In any case, these two grew up to be nearly as bad as Loki was before, and—"

Loki punches him hard on the shoulder, making Thor laugh. "Well it's _true_."

"_Thor_," Fury says. "Focus."

"Right, of course. The woman, named Amora, grew up to be called the Enchantress, with magic as close to rivaling my brother as it comes. With Loki so drained, though, they may now be equally matched."

"Alright, alright, we know her _and_ her creepy-ass ax wielding Skurge," Clint says, waving his arms like wings to shut the blonde up. "But what about _Natasha_? Where is my _girlfriend_?"

"That's the problem, Hawk," Thor says quietly. "Skurge and the Enchantress have taken her."

A painful silence washes over the room, and surprisingly enough, Tony is the one to finally break it:

"That doesn't make any sense, though," he says, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. "We've never had any quarrels with her. Why would she take Natasha?"

"You know," Fury says slowly. "Once, about a year ago, somebody told me that an ant has no quarrel with a boot."

Tony doesn't get it at all, and neither does anybody else by the looks on their faces. Except Loki, obviously. The magician has been looking down at the carpet since Thor began speaking to everyone else, but he looks up at Fury when he says _boot_. Eyes wide, mouth slightly open, face sad and scared and even a bit confused.

"That's right," Fury says, standing. "You know exactly what's going on, don't you?"

Appalled adds onto Loki's expressions at the accusation, and he looks over at Tony. _"Is he ACCUSING me? I would NEVER! I like Widow, you know that! And last night I said I didn't know where she was, and I promised I would never lie to you. Not to mention never hurting you! Stealing her away means hurting you!"_

"Okay, okay," Tony says, standing up. "Calm down, _calm down_." He looks over at Fury. "Look, director, he didn't do it, okay? He wouldn't have even had any time to. He's been with me or Thor or in the hospital all week."

"I'm not saying it was your boy-toy who did it, Stark," Fury says.

"Hey now!" Tony says angrily. "That was uncalled for."

Fury flits his hand at him, turning to Loki. "I'm confident that you did not do it. However, I am certain that you know why it was done."

Loki blinks at him for all of four seconds, eyes widening on the fifth, hands flying to his mouth on the sixth. He looks over at Thor, who looks just as panicked on second ten—he just handles it a lot manlier.

The great big blonde whirls to look at Fury. "Man of Anger," he says, which would normally make Tony laugh, but not now. "You are correct. Years ago, the Enchantress promised my brother that she would make him rue the day that he…well, let us leave it at the explanation that he is in fact the God if Mischief. But aside from such pranks, this must be her idea of revenge. She has probably been watching since our arrival on your planet before her strike on your spider."

"That doesn't make sense either!" Steve growls, leaping up. "If she was watching she'd have known to take Tony! I mean, no offence."

"None taken," Tony says, waving it off.

"Well, that's what Tony said, right?" Bruce says. It's the first thing he's said this whole time. "He and Loki basically haven't been apart since his arrival. She wouldn't be _able_ to get him. So she took Natasha, the one who would be one of the easiest to take. She doesn't have mythical powers or amazing metal technology or any special serums, she's the only woman, and out of all of us she's the one that's alone the most."

Everyone silently brews over the words of both Thor and Bruce. _Now_ it all makes sense.

Loki looks over at Tony, a sad look in his eyes. _"Do you remember the woman that was watching us at the restaurant?"_

Tony sighs, hanging his head. _Obviously_, he thinks, knowing that Loki can hear him. _And you even said you yourself didn't detect any danger. She's good._

"_I know."_

Slowly—_slowly_—Clint stands, eyes blazing, staring at Loki. "So it's _your_ fault she's gone."

"_Hey_," Tony growls, jumping up and pushing at Clint's shoulder. "It is _not_ his fault. He had no idea this would happen. He didn't even _remember_ about the whole revenge thing until Fury brought it up. Stop looking at him like he's some horrible beast."

"Tony!" Clint snaps. "_You_ look at him! He _is_ a horrible beast!"

Tony actually manages to land a punch square on Clint's nose, instantly causing it to start bleeding. Not broken, just bleeding. "Stop," he says as calmly as he can. "Stop right there. It is not his fault and you _know_ it. For an assassin, you sure are losing your cool. Loki, let's—" But he cuts himself off, because when he turns around, Loki is gone. "Okay, cool, fuck all of you. Except you, Thor, you're fine. And Bruce, you've been really helpful. You too, Fu—oh, hell. Fuck you, Clint. Just you."

He starts to walk off, but Fury calls after him: "Stark, we're doing a city perimeter sweep. I want you and the AI in your section in twenty minutes."

"Yeah, twenty minutes, sure, whatever." Since there are four of the Avengers team that are able to regularly go out (Tony, Steve, Clint, and Natasha), there are four sections, Tony's on the east. Natasha usually takes the west, but with her gone, Fury will probably give the job to Thor.

As soon as he's out of earshot from everyone he says, "Jarvis, do you have a read on my boyfriend?"

"Negative, sir. He is no longer in the building."

"Damn. How did Amora get past our scanners?"

"The scanners detect danger, sir. She must not have been a threat while simply watching us. And you programmed the scanners to pass over bedrooms for privacy purposes."

"Hell, well, I better change that soon."

"I'll start on the reprogramming right away, sir."

"Good."

Tony goes straight down to the basement, going straight to his suit to put it straight on.

"What a morn—well, afternoon," Tony mutters as Jarvis boots up all of the suit systems. "I should hand my heart out to ex-enemy magicians from other universes more often."

"Hand your heart out, sir?" Jarvis asks.

"It's a figure of speech, Jay. Don't hurt yourself."

"I was not intending to hurt myself, sir. But what I am asking is, do you see Loki as a burden?"

Tony groans. "Not you too! No, no I do not. If he was a burden I wouldn't have let it get this far, would I have? No I wouldn't. So just…fuck, shut up, okay? I'm not in the mood for this. Just…whatever."

He flies out of the secret opening, coming out inside of the sewers and blowing up past a sewage covering at the side of a street (he chose that specifically, because what happens when he comes out underneath a person or a car? This one is the safest place).

"Jarvis," he says, "What exactly am I sweeping for again?"

"Miss Romanov, sir," Jarvis replies. "And of course any other signs of danger, and I assume I should be on the look for Mr. Laufeyson as well."

"Don't call him that," Tony says, swooping through the air and between buildings and all the like. "It sounds too formal. It's okay with Natasha because we kind of hate each other, but not for my boyfriend. Call him Loki."

"Yes, sir. I shall be on the lookout for Loki as well."

"Yeah, thanks."

It's weird flying around right now to Tony. He's usually only out when it's dark out because he's always down in the basement or at the workshop at his own place. This week has been pretty weird, in all honesty. He's gotten exactly one project done, the big scanner, and both that and the little ones completely failed him. After this is all over he'll have to put aside giving Jarvis feelings and put together all of his AI's reprogram ideas into all of the scanners.

"Sir, if I may..."

"Go ahead, Jay."

"I don't see the point in giving me true feelings when I already have the basic components to create them on my own."

Tony frowns, hovering in the air because he saw something move in the shadows in the ally. "What's that supposed to mean?" he asks, pointing the life/movement/heat scanners towards the ally.

"I can give them to myself, if you wish."

Tony sighs, flying off again, because it's nothing but a dog chasing a squirrel from the city park. "I don't know, Jay. I mean, maybe you and Loki are right and true feelings aren't a good idea for an AI. I mean, you certainly do have the right components that you somewhat have them already, and that's all fine and dandy. But making you angry at me is definitely a mistake, and making you have an even worse sense of humor is probably not good idea either."

Jarvis chuckles. "So glad you agree, sir. Duck."

Tony dives down automatically, barely missing a sudden turn of a bird. "Stupid things," he mutters.

"Mr. Barton too, sir?"

"Don't mention him right now, Jarvis. My mood; remember my mood."

He flies around until the sweep is done, not finding any of Loki, Amora, _or_ Natasha. He sighs, turning to fly to his tower to check on the scanner. When he lands, he expects to find maybe Pepper. But no. He finds Loki.

His boyfriend is kneeling down at the scanner, back to Tony.

"Um, what are you doing?" Tony asks.

Loki whirls around, eyes ruby red and skin a grey-ish blue. "Fixing your scanner, of course. We don't want Amora to get past them again, do we now?"

Tony stares at him. _Stares_ at him. He spoke. Out loud. In his real voice. But…but it didn't sound like the voice he's been hearing inside of his head the last few days at _all_.

"Sir," Jarvis says to only him. "This is not Loki. His readings are all wrong."

_I know_, Tony thinks, looking down at Loki's thumbnails. They're just as long as all the others. It's her. Play along.

"Oh, good idea," Tony says with a smile, his mask lifting up to show his face. "Any luck so far?"

"Obviously."

"One problem, though." He puts a cold metal finger under not-Loki's chin, leaning in till they're an inch apart.

"What's that?" not-Loki asks, a faint smile on his lips.

In reply, Tony shoots the guns in his hands, straight into the not-Loki's neck and stomach.

He flies across the penthouse and smashes into the wall before shimmering into Amora, blood in both places. She growls at him in some other language before standing up like she's not hurt at all. "How did you see through my disguise?" she snaps. "You were supposed to be too surprised that he spoke to see through anything."

"You know, for a magical being from another world," Tony says, mask closing again, "you're actually not very good at this whole villain thing. First of all, you got Loki's voice _all_ wrong. Second, Loki chews his thumb nails, and you left them as long as the others."

She growls, green light shining out of her eyes and around her hands. "I knew I missed something. Skurge, darling, if you'd be so kind…"

Dropping down from the ceiling, right in front of Tony, is one of the biggest men he's ever seen. The guy looks like some fucking blacksmith, wearing mostly blue and brown, and a large and very scary looking ax in his hands. He barely leaps back from the attack, which leaves a gaping gash in his floor.

"Oh, come on!" he says, holding his hands up to them. "I just had this whole place redone just a year ago when Loki got it destroyed!"

"We'll be sure to come back next year as well, then," Amora says with a dainty giggle.

And then the fight commences. Amora actually grows these giant green angel-like wings, so Tony quick flies out of the building for a better advantage. Of course Skurge can jump out of the window and off of buildings like the fucking Hulk, but that's not near as much of a problem as a magical bitch throwing green balls of light at you.

"Backup!" Tony yells into his transmitter. "Guys, I need backup _stat_!"

"Tony!" all of Steve, Clint, and Thor yell at the same time. Good, they gave the blondie a communicator too. "Where are you?" Steve continues.

"At my tower! Hurry up; it's two against one over here!" Dammit, where the hell is Loki? He'd be real useful right about now.

Thor shows up a few seconds later, flying through the air with his hammer and ramming hard into Skurge. Steve and Clint arrive a few minutes later, Tony luring Amora down to Steve's level so they can work together and Clint going in to help Thor.

"Hey, Bruce, you there?" Tony says after Jarvis opens a direct line to his pager. "I know you don't really like doing this, but we could really use your help over here right about now."

There's no answer, and Tony's about to swear at the inopportune timing of Bruce taking a nap, but he doesn't need to. Instead, there's a great roar as a giant green beast flies through the air, knocking headlong into Amora and knocking her to the ground. Thing is, Bruce couldn't have gotten there already if he just heard it, which means he had already been on his way. How nice of him.

Amora cries out in pain and anger, her wings dissolving away. And they all keep fighting, five against two. Tony wishes he knew where Loki was, but he doesn't have the time for that. Amora keeps disappearing and popping up at random places, using her teleportation to the best of her. But with all Tony, Steve, and the Hulk after her, she isn't getting very far each time.

And, by some unseen miracle, Loki is suddenly there. All of them (not civilians, because they ran away screaming ages ago), even Clint and Skurge, look up, almost mesmerized by Loki's figure. He's in the battle armor he always wore a year ago, his helmet sitting on his head and the staff he had glowing angrily in his hand. He's enveloped in a green-ish haze, eyes blazing acid green and skin as alabaster as always, floating above all of them with his arms spread and his legs held together with toes pointed down.

And suddenly, without any sort of warning, the green haze shoots down like a bullet, hitting Amora square in the middle of…well, her entire body. She flies backwards, smashing through a building behind her and tumbling out the other side. She's up almost instantly, groaning and seething and magic glowing around her entire being.

That's when the real fighting begins. She and Loki go at it all on their own, slowly progressing up the side of buildings until they're at the top of one of the tallest in the city. Tony wants to help, but he knows he'll just be in the way. So he and the other two that were fighting the Enchantress drop down to go against Skurge. And what with it being a completely unfair fight—one against five, one of those five being a Hulk, another a demigod, another a Super Soldier, one with exploding arrows, and the other a genius metal man—the crazy-ass ax wielding magical-bitch-bodyguard is brought down soon enough.

S.H.I.E.L.D. agents drop in almost immediately, roping him up and taking him away without a single word of thanks to the five Avengers. It's great having Thor back on the team. He may be somewhat annoying, but Tony really does like the great blonde beast.

And with nothing else to do, the five leap up to help out Tony's boyfriend. Amora screams with rage, splitting herself into three parts. Tony and Loki take one, Steve and Clint another, and Thor and Hulk are on the third.

"Nice of you to swing by," Tony says to Loki, shooting out of his hands right into the power core of Loki's staff to make it twice as strong. And it is, knocking Amora No. 1 backwards with a yelp.

"_I was busy,"_ he thinks, swinging his staff around to smack her in the face.

"Doing _what_?"

"_Changing, stealing weapons from S.H.I.E.L.D., and all around trying not to kill anybody."_

"I thought you were over that."

"_Tony, please. My least favorite person in the entire world steals somebody that I generally like, hurting you in the process, and one of your friends blames me for everything and calls me a beast. What would you be doing, knitting in a corner singing Kum By Ah?"_

"Point taken." Tony blasts Amora in the stomach, barely dodging one of her attacks.

"I hoped it would be."

They keep twirling around, and Tony can't help but get the feeling that they're dancing. They're perfect together, fighting in sync and blocking things the other can't block in time without a second thought. Tony would chalk it up to Loki just reading his mind, but if that were the case they still wouldn't be this good, because Tony can't read _his_ mind.

"Sir," Jarvis says, "maybe we could end this with the laser?"

"Yeah, good idea. Lo', can you hold her for a sec while I power up?"

"_Of course."_

So Tony drops down to the building instead of where they're all fighting in the air, powering off completely so that his laser can power faster. Ten seconds to go, something hits him hard from the side, and he flies across the building, pain shooting into his side. Loki screams in rage, but he can't get to Tony because of Amora No. 1 as the fourth clone advances quickly upon him. Him and his suit that's almost completely powered off. He's in a giant metal cage without any means of protecting himself. Damn.

Just as Amora No. 4 knocks him off of the building with a blow that knocks the breath out of Tony, his laser reaches one-hundred perfect. He manages to shoot one hand at the fourth clone and the first, but that's all he can do before he simply drops, eyes fluttering shut.

And, just before everything goes completely dark and cold, he hears somebody call his name. A voice that reaches above all other chaos going on around him, pained and beautiful and something Tony is never going to forget.

"TONY!" Loki screams. His real voice. Not Amora's, not Skurge's, not anybody's but Loki's.

And as Tony drifts away, he smiles.


	7. Day 7

**Day 7**

Tony wakes up exactly where he expected to if he woke up at all—which he knew he would, because what would the world be like without Tony Stark? He's in the hospital, a completely different room than what Loki was in because there's an ugly blue curtain roping off the other half of the room. And Steve is fast asleep in one of the chairs by the wall, and there's been a chair pulled up beside him where Loki is sitting in, arms curled up on the bed and face pressed tightly into them as he sleeps.

Tony laughs quietly (but quickly cuts himself off because it hurts), both at the fact that the positions are switched and that the God of Mischief is actually snoring.

He reaches out to Loki, but stops when he realizes how tightly wrapped up he is. His entire chest and both of his arms are wrapped up in gauze, the arm farthest from Loki is in a sling, and his ribs hurt like hell.

"Great," he mutters, reaching out his good arm again. He ghosts it over Loki's cheek, smiling when the God mutters Thor's name and swats at his hand. How perfect.

Loki finally wakes up completely though, Tony's thoughts finally reaching his mind. He sits up like a Jack-in-the-Box, eyes wide with joy and leaning up without a thought to plant a kiss on Tony's lips. Tony kisses him back as hard as he can, wrapping his good arm around Loki's neck to pull him tighter down.

"What time is it?" he whispers when Loki has to forcibly pull away, sitting back down.

"Two in the morning," Loki says. Still out loud. Still in his regular voice. Still so beautiful.

"Lordy, you're _talking out loud_. Come here, dammit. Come kiss me again."

Loki does, both of their eyes staying open to stare dreamily at each other. But then the door opens, and Loki pulls slowly away to a smiling Clint and an almost-but-but-even-kind-of smiling Fury.

"Tony you _miracle_," Clint says, going to the side of the bed that Loki isn't on. "Hulk wasn't able to catch you this time. You hit the ground hard as…well, metal falling from the top of a building. The only thing that kept you alive was Thor hitting you with lighting—he said something about a charge that happened before the war…I don't know, anyway. And then Loki flew down and was all magical, terrible beast and took out all of the Amora's. Like, shit, Tony, he was _blue_." He looks over at Loki, whose arms are crossed and eyes are narrow. "Oh, don't look at me like that; you know I love you after you rescued Natasha. Anyway." He turns back to Tony. "And his staff was flying everywhere and Amora was _damn close_ to being blown to pieces right there, but Thor swooped in and stopped him from killing her off completely and then S.H.I.E.L.D. guys came in and took her away and _shit_, Tony, you were _asleep the entire fucking time._ Tony, your boyfriend is _amazing_ and I forgive him for ever possessing my body and I hope he doesn't hate me and lordy Fury looks angry because I won't stop talking so um I'm going to go see Natasha because she's not in this room and um yeah bye." And he disappears out of the door.

Tony bursts into laughter, but has to cut off sharply again when his ribs scream at him.

Loki's hands are over him instantly, green light enveloping them and all of Tony's ribs. "You broke every single one on the left side and two on the right," he whispers. "And the arm on the other side, not to mention spraining your ankle, and your entire back is bruised. You fell a lot farther than you've ever fallen. Barton is right, though…you only survived because of Thor and I. My brother remembered the time that your suit was recharged to four-hundred percent when he hit you in the wilderness on your first meeting, and he decided it'd be a good bet. It was, of course. Then I came down and fixed everything as best I could before S.H.I.E.L.D. agents carted you off to the hospital. I've been working with them slowly to put you back together. Doing it all at once will…well, hurt."

Tony nods, sighing happily when Loki pulls his hands away, because his ribs don't hurt anymore. Then he turns to Fury. "What's up, Man of Anger?" He can laugh about that, now. Now that Natasha is saved. "How'd you guys get Natasha back?"

Fury looks over at Loki, who smiles. "With Amora all but dead I was able to search her mind and I found her location in a matter of seconds," he says. "She was in another realm, of course, so as soon as I knew you were hooked up here alright I teleported off with Thor to bring her back. Then we came back here. Thor, Bruce, and now Clint are with her right now, a few doors down. We're on the fifth floor now. You two have completely different conditions than I did. Her right leg was broken and she contused the palm of her right hand, but I fixed the contusion up already, and her leg will be fine as soon as I'm done with it."

Fury nods, turning back to Tony. "Does that answer your question?"

"Completely," Tony says. "Is anyone in the bed beside us?"

"No, you're the only one in the room as of now."

"Ah. Okay. Anything else?"

Fury sighs, putting his hands behind his back. "No. Just…good catch." He turns around and walks out of the room, the door slamming behind him.

Tony frowns. "Good catch?" he asks, turning to Loki. "What the hell does that mean? I don't remember going fishing.

Loki smiles. "He means me."

Tony laughs again, and this time he feels totally fine. "But there's something I don't get," Tony says. "Why did Natasha's tracking device say that she was in her room after we went to dinner?"

"You mean this tracking device?" Loki asks, holding up an earring and setting it in Tony's hand. "I went in there after Clint got all pissy yesterday and found it on her pillow."

"You…went in there? What?"

"Well, I was initially going off to sulk, but I decided I'd be of more use actually doing something productive. So I went into her room to look for a sign of finding her, and that's when I found the earring. I was going to go back and give it to you, but you were already on your way out. That's when I decided I'd get my staff back." He holds up a suspicious looking staff, the power of the Tesseract glowing like a jewel. "Since Thor and I brought the Tesseract here it's been working beautiful. It doesn't work as well with the Tesseract in another world. And do you know what? Fury said I could keep it since I proved myself. I think it physically hurt him to say it, but that's alright with me."

Tony laughs again. "Lordy, I love you. Come kiss me again."

Something flashes in Loki's eyes—magic, probably—and he stands up and kisses Tony slowly, hands holding lightly to the sides of his face. Tony's good arm wraps around his neck as he's surrounded with the scent of blood and leather (Loki's still in his armor), not caring whose blood it is as long as Loki is with him.

When the taller man pulls away, elbows resting on the bed to continue looking at the genius billionaire, a soft smile is on his mouth. "Do you really?"

Tony doesn't know what he's talking about for a good five seconds, but then his eyes widen slightly. "I did say that, didn't I?"

"You did."

"I…wow…"

"Day seven, Tony. Pick one. Yes or no."

Tony breathes a laugh. "Day seven, damn. It doesn't feel like days. It feels like…months. Can someone fall in love in seven months? I don't know, I've never even liked anyone before you."

Loki smiles. "Can someone fall in love in seven _days_?"

And there's only one answer for that, of course.

"Yes," Tony breathes, and Loki kisses him again.

"Yes," the taller man breathes into his mouth. "Yes they can."

There's a laugh, and both men turn to see Steve awake in his chair.

"Oh," they say together.

"Took you long enough," Steve says, stretching his arms behind his back. "Not that a week is all that long or anything."

Tony frowns. "What, you knew? Yeah right."

"Of course I didn't know. I just guessed. You know, even before I figured out that you two were together I sort of had an idea that I refused to listen to. Pepper, Natasha, and I all gossip like nail salon girls because Pepper always knows everything and isn't as good as keeping a secret as you think."

Loki snorts and Tony laughs. "You're terrible," he mutters, pulling Loki back down to kiss him again. "Get out of here."

"With _that_ going on?" Steve says, standing up. "With pleasure."

**XxX**

Twelve o'clock noon of the seventh day, all the Avengers and Loki make their way out of the hospital. Tony refused the wheelchair, naturally. Not because he loves breaking rules, but because he feels _great_. Loki's definition of healing him slowly simply meant an hour between each burst if green energy, which meant Tony was up and going to the bathroom and signing autographs in the cafeteria by ten. And the best part? Tony pissed off a whole new set of nurses. It was great.

Natasha's all healed up as well, Clint's arm around her waist like the true couple they are. There are reporters everywhere, of course, and this time everybody answers questions because everything is suddenly so different. A big battle going on in the middle of the city again, new relationships, and…well, that's about it, isn't it?

When Natasha and Clint are asked about their relationship, Natasha laughs and says, "Well it was inevitable, wasn't it? We've been keeping it secret for months; of course, all of our friends knew about it the entire time. Everyone knows the story of how he didn't kill me all those years ago… Who would you go for? Another assassin or Mr. Playboy Philanthropist over there?"

And even Bruce was there, somehow keeping everything down with a smile. And when somebody braved asking him about his Hulk form, he simply said, "You have no idea how sick of the color green I am."

Which of course made everybody laugh, because seriously. There's Loki, Amora, and the Hulk. A giant green raging beast and two green light throwing magicians. It's great fun, really.

And Steve gets asked about what it's like being the main leader of a band of crazy-ass superheroes and a best friend with Tony, the one hardest to control. And Steve rolls his eyes and says that it's like having kids, and that one kid that just doesn't get it is his favorite.

And of course Thor gets to answer a question as well. Something about hospitals where he wrinkles up his nose and says, "I _despise_ the rooms of white. So cold and restricting. I would rather be fighting alongside my friends!"

And then they're asking Tony and Loki about thinks, about how they got together and how long it's been and how on earth was Tony Playboy Stark roped down into a real relationship.

"Come on, guys," Tony says, a hand holding tightly to one of Loki's. "How many people get a chance to date a magical being from another dimension?"

Loki, on the other hand, and surprisingly, is a bit more personal: "You all know about the muzzle I had, of course. I hadn't talked since I had that on, and it had already been taken off back in Asgard. When I showed up here, though…well, hard to believe as it may be, I've had a bit of a crush on Tony every since our playful banter before I threw him out of the window in the penthouse of his own tower. He's just learning that now, too. Anyway, long story short, I helped him out with some of his inventions and the like, and I kissed him back on the second day. We've technically been a thing since I first showed up here."

He looks down at Tony, the crowd in near silence at the loving look between the two men. "I averaged an hour of sleep every three days, and I hadn't eaten anything—not _anything_—for two months. That's why I was in the hospital a few days ago…my body finally shut down on me. Not even gods are immortal, you know. I was purposely letting myself waste away because I wanted to die… I was killing myself. But when Tony found me on the floor of his bathroom he got me to the hospital right away, and I was still plenty set on dying by then.

"But he just has this way with…I don't know, words, and look at me now. I can't remember the last time I felt so…alive? Is that the right word?" He looks up, meeting a few of the cameras individually with his emerald green eyes. "Yeah, I guess so. He was the one who forced the nurses to give me what food they could without my body rejecting it; he was the one I woke up for. What I'm saying is, he saved my life. He legitimately saved my life. And I owe him more for that than I can every repay him."

The crowd awes and claps and looks at Tony for an answer.

And Tony literally has no idea what to say. "You've got to be kidding me," he says, looking up at Loki through his sunglasses. "There's no way I can top that."

Loki tilts his head, a knowing smile on his lips.

And Tony knows exactly what he's supposed to say. "I love you."

And Loki kisses him. They don't care that they're in the middle of a crowd of people with cameras and microphones and probably a few homophobic people. Loki grips him tight around the waist and Tony pushes up on his tiptoes and throws his arms around Loki's neck. And yeah, people take pictures. Yeah, people keep asking more questions. Yeah, there are all sorts of reporters and this will be all over the news and the papers and definitely the internet. And, yeah, the fangirls are having heart attacks.

And when the happy couple pulls apart, Tony sees that Clint is kissing Natasha, and Steve is slinging his arm happily around Bruce, and Thor is picking both them up in a bear hug to rival all bear hugs.

And basically, everything is perfect.

Taking off his sunglasses, Tony winks at the cameras, and he and Loki teleport away to the bedroom in the Avengers Mansion to finish up there.

And as Loki pumps into him, both men moaning and covered in sweat, Tony prays to whatever god is out there that this never ends. Because it's perfect, really. They've both saved each others lives and both tried to kill each other. And Loki can help him with his projects in the basement, and he and Tony can figure out a way to make the staff even more powerful.

And when they're both spent, both dead tired (because fighting a magical bitch and her ax wielding bodyguard is work enough, but then being up since two in the morning and then some doesn't exactly help out either), lying in each other's arms on Tony's bed, Tony can't help but bring up Bruce's big question:

"So what happens now?" he breathes.

"I can't stay here," Loki breathes back, pushing his fingers through Tony's hair. "But I'll be back whenever I can. So, you know, every day. Every other day if I'm really busy. But with the power of your AI and the Tesseract we'll be able to set up a direct line, I think. We can communicate whenever we want to. I could even get a pager."

"So you'll basically be here all the time?"

Loki smiles. "Basically yeah. I do have my own duties back in Asgard, and now that I'm well again I'll probably have more…but we can work around that. I'll just hang out here most of the time and let Thor do whatever it is that I'm meant to do. Who knows, maybe I could become an Avenger with you. The world could always use a bit of magic."

Tony smiles. "Yeah, I'd like that. And now that Clint loves you, him too. Fury may take a bit of work, though."

Loki shrugs. "That won't be hard. Even if he doesn't actually let me in I'll be around all the time anyway, so he might as well."

"That's true. That's very, very true."

Loki kisses him slowly, hands caressing Tony's tired body. "I love you," he whispers.

"I love you too," Tony whispers back. "I'm so glad you started talking again."

"Hey, God of Lies and Mischief over here. You can't manipulate people if you don't use words out loud, can you?"

"I don't know, I think you'd do it just fine."

Loki smiles. "That's true. That very, very true."

They laugh, because who doesn't like laughing? And then Loki kisses him again, and it doesn't matter that they're tired. They keep going at it, and Tony simply cannot fathom it. How did he, Tony Stark, _actually_ get roped down?

He'll have to ask Pepper. She'll know. She knows everything.


	8. Epilogue: Day 210

**Epilogue: Day 210**

**30 Weeks (About 7 Months) from Day 1, on the 23rd of January**

Tony takes a deep breath, doing his best to straighten out his suit. He just feels so _small_ here. He's in a huge room right outside of the Great Hall, where Tony knows a huge feast is set up. This is his first visit to Asgard, and lordy, what a place. He hasn't met anybody yet because Loki hasn't let him; they're waiting for the great feast they're having in his honor.

"You're fidgeting again," Loki says, wrapping an arm around Tony's waist.

"Uh, yeah, brilliant observation," Tony says, pushing his fingers through his hair. "I feel like I'm going to explode."

"Oh, posh, there's nothing to be scared of," his boyfriend says, smoothing out his hair. "It's just the Allfather."

"Yeah, because meeting a guy with that title makes me feel _way_ better."

"If it _does_ make you feel any better, he's just as nervous as you are. He still speaks of me as his son, and to him and everybody else you're the man that has saved the life of a prince. Not to mention his lover."

Tony takes another deep breath. "Yeah, well, I feel like a sixteen year old meeting the parents of his girlfriend so he can take her to prom. I can't believe you waited five months to bring me here. My heart has been exploding since you mentioned bringing me here all those months ago at the prospect of meeting your _step-father_. Look, my palms are sweating. I feel like I'm going to pass out."

Loki just tightens the arm around his waist. "You're fine, love. Just close your eyes and _breathe_."

Tony does, and that's when the giant doors open up. And Loki pulls his arm away from Tony's waist and simply takes his hand, pulling the genius and very nervous billionaire after him. He's in his armor and helmet, his staff not disguised at all, and the huge crowd in the room erupts into applause.

Tony plasters on a smile and waves at everyone, earning a cute smile from his boyfriend. They keep going until they're at the foot of Odin's throne, where his wife sits up with him, Thor stands at the foot with Tony and Loki, and four others Tony doesn't know stand off to the side looking both joyful and formal. In fact, they look kind of familiar. Phil mentioned them, he thinks… Yeah, that's it. Xena, Jackie Chan, Robin Hood, and Little John.

And then Odin holds his hand up, and the hall goes silent.

"Loki, my son!" he says loudly, his voice booming through the room. "We are all so thrilled that you could finally bring your savior to our realm!"

Loki drops down on one knee, and Tony quick follows his lead. "Father," he says brightly, and Tony knows he's the only one that notices the stain in the word. "I bring you Tony Stark, my friend, hero, and lover. I'm sorry I could not bring him earlier. Trouble in Midgard."

"Think nothing of it, my son!" Odin says happily. "Please, stand!"

They do, as does Odin, who slowly makes his way down the stairs to stand in front of Tony. "Tony Stark of Midgard, of the Avengers, you have long been a name that rings in my ears. Over one year ago, helping to save your realm and to bring my son safely back to me, and just less than five months, doing the same again. You have saved my son twice, and I owe you great thanks for that." And then Odin is hugging him, so Tony awkwardly wraps his arm around the larger man (he _is_ as tall as Loki and Thor, good lord) and pats him on the back.

"Uh, yeah, anytime you need a hand, I'm your man," he says as formally as he can—so he completely botches it. He's never been good at formalities. "Glad I could help."

And that's pretty much it. The feast begins, and Tony gets to meet all of Loki and Thor's friends.

"I am Lady Sif," Xena says brightly. She has, absolutely beyond surprisingly to Tony, armor that doesn't show a lick of cleavage or midriff. It's not that he wanted to see, it's just that every woman in Midgard—damn, he's been around Asgardian people too long. It's just that every woman on earth in comic books or whatever is in all but a two-piece swimsuit for their armor. "It is so nice to meet you, Tony Stark. Though you have brought Loki back to his regular mischievous acts, he is much more bearable now that he is happy again."

Tony chuckles. "Yeah, nice to meet you to. Glad I could, uh, help."

"I am called Fandral," Robin Hood says brightly. "And these are my friends, Hogun"—(Jackie Chan)—"and Volstagg"—(Little John). "We are the Warriors Three, and we are so grateful to you for bringing out little blue prince back from the darkness."

Jackie Chan nods wholeheartedly, and Little John gives a huge smile as he tears into a leg of wild boar. Loki, of course, rolls his eyes at the praise.

But Tony's used to it. "Yeah, anytime," he says with a chuckle. "I'm just glad Thor decided to visit before it was too late."

"And we are glad that Loki refused to leave his brother side!" Little John says around his mouthful. "If he has not become so dependant he would have stayed beyond and perished!"

"That would _not_ have been fun to tell Thor," Jackie Chan says quietly, and all of them laugh, though Thor's is a little gruff.

Loki takes him on a tour of the kingdom, Thor, Xena, and the Warriors Three coming with to beg Loki to bring Tony to the arena. Loki finally gives in, and they make their way leisurely and happily to this so-called arena. It ends up simply being somewhat like the Roman Coliseum, though instead of fighting to the death it's simple practice.

Fandral and Sif battle it out first, Sif coming out the winner with ease. She laughs, beating Volstagg as well, but then has a little trouble with Hogun until beating him too. She loses to Thor with a laugh, and then Thor goes to fight against Loki. No one wins. They just end up a mass of limps in the dust, laughing so hard that they're crying.

And then they all go on a trip through the stables, and Tony meets…

"This is Sleipnir, my son," Loki says, kissing the face of an eight-legged horse.

Tony snorts before going absolutely silent, staring incredulously at the god.

"You haven't told him yet?" Fandral asks, bursting into laughter. "Oh, this is _gold_, Loki! _Gold_!"

Loki rolls his eyes, turning to Tony as Sleipnir nuzzles against him. "It was nearly a thousand years ago, give or take a hundred. You know I can shape shift, and it…well, the details are not important. I gave birth to him in a female horse form, and then I gave him to Odin to ride."

"Oh _wow_," Tony says, pushing his fingers through his hair. "I thought ASFR was weird."

Thor frowns. "What is this ASFR?"

"Alt Sex Fetish Robot. It's when…well, when you have a fetish for robots. You know, technology. Electrical stuff that you guys don't have."

They blink at him.

"I mean, I'm not saying I have it, it's just something that's out there."

They keep blinking.

Tony sighs, looking over at Loki. "You started this."

Loki shrugs, a smile playing on his lips. "On purpose, obviously."

"I'm hungry," Little John says, breaking the tension.

Robin Hood rolls his eyes. "You're always hungry, Volstagg."

The seven of them spend the rest of the day just showing things off to Tony, and Loki even takes him for a ride on his…son… Damn, that is _weird_. Tony's practically a father. Not the _best_ thought ever…

When it finally gets dark out, they all go for a swim in one of the prettiest, jewel encrusted pools Tony has ever seen (apparently they usually just swim naked, but for Tony's sake they keep on what clothing they can). And when Thor, Sif, and the Warriors Three have all gone off to do whatever it is they do, Loki takes Tony on a long walk down the rainbow bridge (what's it called, the Bifrost? Yeah).

"Evening, Heimdal," Loki says to a man standing at the very end of the broken bridge. He's huge (every single fucking person is huge here, and then there's Tony), black, in a golden suit of armor, and there's a sword-like thing in his hands with the point resting against the bridge.

"Good evening, Loki," the man says. And then he lifts the sword up and begins to walk away. "I wish your night well."

Loki smiles after him. "As to you. Give my regards to Livilian."

"I shall make sure to."

Tony frowns. "He's just leaving? And who's Liv-whatever?"

"Livilian is his wife, and yes, he's just leaving. I wanted the view to ourselves."

"I see."

They sit down, legs dangling over the edge, Tony leaning against his boyfriend.

"This is where I dropped into," Loki says quietly, an arm over Tony's shoulder. He's fidgeting slightly, but Tony doesn't feel it's something bad, so he doesn't question it. "Thor was dangling, holding onto Odin's hand, and I was holding on to Mjölnir… That's when I let myself just _fall_. And the beings from another dimension found me, giving me the power and the army."

"Yeah?" Tony says, looking up at him. "What's it like, falling among the stars?"

Loki looks down at him. "Like looking at a thousand eyes, every single one of them disappointed in you."

"Oh," Tony says awkwardly.

Loki smiles. "You know I love you, right?"

Tony snorts. "Of course I do. More than anything."

"And?"

"And I love you just as much as that. Have since day seven. Why?"

"Do you like rings?"

"Yeah, I wear them sometimes…"

"Which kinds do you like better? Just regular bands of gold, or would you prefer diamonds?"

Tony frowns in confusion. "Gay is it may be, I'm going to h ave to go with diamonds… Loki, what is this about?"

Loki smiles, pulling them both up in a standing position.

"What on earth are you—"

But then Tony goes absolutely silent, because Loki is dropping down on one knee. And Tony's mouth goes dry as Loki pulls a little box out of his pocket, opening it up to him to reveal a ring of shimmering gold with the clearest, most beautiful diamond Tony has ever seen in its center.

"Tony Edward Stark," Loki says, a barely contained smile on his lips, "I love you more than anything in the Nine Realms and beyond. You saved my life, and you've been loving and faithful to me after all this time—trust me, I know. I don't know how, but I roped in the biggest Playboy in all of New York. And nothing better has happened to me since then. But your saying yes to my question would surpass it beyond anything else. I…Tony. Tony Stark. Will you marry me?"

Tony's jaw finally drops, and he lets out a breath of one of those surprised sounds you give when you don't think you can't actually speak. But Tony does speak: "Fucking _yes_." And it's the most informal answer he's ever given to a formal question, but Loki doesn't care. The Jotun of Midgard slips the ring—the ring that fits perfectly, obviously—onto Tony's left ring finger before kissing it, and then he stands to kiss Tony on the mouth.

And Tony throws his arms around him and leaps into his arms, wrapping his legs around his waist. And Loki laughs against him, holding him tight as Tony refuses to stop kissing him. But Loki gets him back enough eventually, sitting back down on the bridge with Tony in his lap, still straddling him.

"Natasha and Steve helped me pick it out on earth a little less than a month ago," he says as Tony stares down at the ring with a bright smile on his lips. "And then of course I showed it to everyone else, and you should have _seen_ their faces when they saw I was serious."

Tony laughs. "No wonder they've all been in such a good mood! Why did you wait so long?"

"Oh come now, you saw me fidgeting earlier. I was nervous as Hel. Not to mention how perfect I wanted it to be… I didn't even think I was going to do it now until last night."

"Well I'm very glad you did. Tell me about their faces. I just have to know. And when were you able to tell them?"

"Well, with you sleeping in till ten at the earliest every day, it wasn't that hard to get up for breakfast and show it off to everyone. When I first told Natasha about it she burst into a fit of giggles so unlike her I thought that she was having a nervous breakdown, but then she grabbed my hand and towed me off to Steve, who just stared blankly at us for about a minute, finally enveloped me in a giant hug saying something about _finally_.

"Then, about a week later, Natasha organized Fury, Pepper, and Thor coming over while you were fast asleep so I could tell all of them as well."

"Ooh, Pepper is way better at hiding it than everyone else. Go on, go on."

"Well, Clint reacted first. He fainted, and then woke up later and said he totally supported it, just that he couldn't imagine you actually getting married. Then Thor, who enveloped me in one of his bear hugs as he congratulated me. Fury bust into laughter after I was set down—seriously, we had to get him napkins to wipe the tears from his eye. And he told me…" Loki trails off, smirking. Then, coughing deeply, he continues in the most perfect Fury imitation Tony has ever heard: "Loki, You are one _braaave_ motherfucker. Brave as hell. Just knowing what you're doing I would give you your Tesseract staff back without a second thought if I hadn't already."

Tony bursts into laughter as Loki coughs to go back his old voice, wiping a tear from his eye as well. "Wow, wow," Tony says. "What did Pepper say? And Bruce?"

"Pepper actually kissed me on the cheek with a very un-Pepper-like whoop, and then Bruce asked to see the ring. All of them loved it, obviously. Even Jarvis decided to pipe in about it… It's a good thing he knows your taste better than even I do. He assured me that you would like it as well, and I'm thrilled to know that he was right. Anyway, after that, Fury, Thor, and Pepper all went back home and I went back to wake you up to go out to breakfast because I hadn't actually eaten anything. Remember that day that we went to the park to feed the ducks?"

Tony's jaw drops. "Yeah! Yeah, I do! Now that I think about it, that's when everything started! Wow, that's great. You're great. This is great. I love you, Lo'."

Loki smiles. "I love you too, Tone. You're staying here for the night, aren't you?"

Tony smiles back. "Yeah, I definitely am. Kiss me."

And Loki does, pressing him down onto his back right there on the bridge. But then the feel of the rainbow is gone, replaced by what must obviously be Loki's bed. And Tony's happy, Loki is happy, and everybody else is happy too.

All in all, he can't think of a better situation. And to think, all it took were a few well placed words.

_**To be continued in its sequel: Stay**_

* * *

End A/N's: Yup! That's the end! I really hope you guys like it! :) It's got a sequel, too, which is finished and posted both on ff and ao3 :) It's mpreg, though, so I'm not sure if you guys want to read it or not (I know well of the battle between people who like it and those who don't). It doesn't _need_ to be read to make anything make sense or anything, but it does explain the whole completely different ages between Tony and Loki, not to mention a few other things. But yeah even if you don't really like mpreg it got great reviews on ff so you should totally read it anyway :P  
Thanks for reading, and thanks for any reviews. Love you guys ^-^  
(PS I totally made up Heimdal's wife, Livilian. I'm like positive he's not actually married, but whatever. And I know Tony's first name is actually Anthony, but I had Loki just keep it as Tony for a little joke I threw together in the sequel.)


	9. EDIT

_**EDIT**_: Guys, this chapter is like 3 seconds long okay? I'm just throwing it in for all of the people that followed it. It always bothers me when people do that, but now I'm pretty happy because I can throw in the link to the sequel and you guys will know about it so those of you who want to can read it! :D

Anyway, it's called Stay and it's totally completed and it's posted and um the attempt to post the link totally failed so you're just going to have to click around until you get to it on my page. Soooorryyyy!

Anyway. ENJOY IT! ^-^


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